Gastric cancer treatment in Japan: 2008 annual report of the JGCA nationwide registry

The Japanese Gastric Cancer Association (JGCA) started a new nationwide gastric cancer registry in 2008. Approximately 50 data items, including surgical procedures, pathological diagnoses, and survival outcomes, for 12004 patients with primary gastric cancer treated in 2001 were collected retrospectively from 187 participating hospitals. Data were entered into the JGCA database according to the JGCA Classification of gastric carcinoma, 13th edition and the International Union Against Cancer (UICC) TNM Classification of malignant tumors, 5th edition by using an electronic data collecting system. Finally, data of 11261 patients with gastric resection were analyzed. The 5-year follow-up rate was 83.5%. The direct death rate was 0.6%. TNM 5-year survival rates (5YSRs)/JGCA 5YSRs were 91.8/91.9% for stage IA, 84.6/85.1% for stage IB, 70.5/73.1% for stage II, 46.6/51.0% for stage IIIA, 29.9/33.4% for stage IIIB, and 16.6/15.8% for stage IV. The proportion of patients more than 80 years old was 7.0%, and their 5YSR was 48.7%. Compared to the JGCA archived data, though the follow-up rate needs to be improved, these data suggest that the postoperative results of patients with primary gastric carcinoma have improved in those with advanced disease and in the aged population in Japan.