Abstract

Peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) is an important and not rare cause of morbidity and mortality among patients with gastric cancer. Younger age(less than 65 years) female gender, advanced T- and N-stage, a primary tumor of signet ring cells or linitis plastica, and primary tumors covering multiple anatomical locations of the stomach were all associated with a higher odds ratios of developing PC. PC is a frequent condition in patients presenting with gastric cancer, especially in younger patients with advanced tumor stages. In this article, we present a case of a 63 years old woman who was operatively treated for gastric cancer. Total gastrectomy was obtained and the patohistology report was signet ring cell carcinoma, stage T3N3M0. Computer tomography (CT) was done before the operative treatment and 6 months after the treatment. The CT before the treatment did not show any presents of peritoneal metastasis, there were no signs of peritoneal involvement. The next CT was done 6 months after the treatment where there was a sign of peritoneal involvement, with the diffuse spread of metastatic deposits (MS) all over the peritoneum. The present study showed a positive correlation between a more advanced T-stage and N-stage and the risk of presenting with PC. In literature, these factors were also associated with worse survival. This patient survival period was 4 months after diagnosis of peritoneal carcinomatosis with correlate with the data from the literature were median survival of patients with other metastases was 14 months, but only 4 months for patients with PC.

Conclusion: Over 70% of gastric cancer patients undergoing surgery with curative intent will develop intra-abdominal recurrence in the course of the disease. The spread of malignant cells into the peritoneal cavity during surgery is one of the possible mechanisms for this phenomenon. PC is a frequent condition in patients presenting with gastric cancer, especially in younger patients with advanced tumor stages.