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Follow‐up of patients resected for gastric cancer
Author(s) -
Javier Lacueva F.,
Calpena Rafael,
Medrano Justo,
Compañ Antonio F.,
Andrada Encarnación,
Moltó Mario,
Ferrer Rafael,
Diego Manuel
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
journal of surgical oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.201
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1096-9098
pISSN - 0022-4790
DOI - 10.1002/jso.2930600307
Subject(s) - medicine , cancer , serology , surgery , gastric carcinoma , chemotherapy , sampling (signal processing) , radiology , gastroenterology , filter (signal processing) , computer science , antibody , immunology , computer vision
In this study we used a cost‐outcome analysis to evaluate our follow‐up protocol for patients who had been resected for gastric cancer. We designed a descriptive cross‐sectional trial through consecutive sampling of patients who had undergone resection of gastric carcinoma and were followed in our outpatient department during 1991. Serological (CEA) and or imaging procedures were pathologic at least two months prior to the onset of symptoms in 33% of recurrences. No significant correlation was found between serum CEA levels and CEA tumor tissue staining in patients who recurred. Only 17% of patients who relapsed underwent further treatment (surgery and chemotherapy) with no improvement found in terms of survival. The overall cost per year has been estimated at US$ 6118. Our results show that serological levels of CEA and available imaging techniques for routine follow‐up provide little advantage in diagnosing gastric cancer recurrence over clinical surveillance alone. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.