The prognostic role of palliative gastrectomy in advanced gastric cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BackgroundThe effectiveness of palliative gastrectomy for advanced GC remains a topic of debate. This study sought to establish whether palliative gastrectomy has an impact on prolonging survival.MethodsWe carried out systematic searches in PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and the EMBASE databases from database inception to July 2023 to gather studies that examined the connection between palliative gastrectomy and the prognosis of advanced GC. The study employed overall survival as the primary outcome, with the hazard ratio serving as the selected parameter to gauge the association. Subgroup analyses were performed to delve into potential differences within the included studies, categorizing them by study region and sample size in order to examine possible sources of heterogeneity. The stability of individual studies was assessed through sensitivity analysis. The analysis included 20 articles, encompassing a total of 23,061 patients.ResultsAccording to the meta-analysis results, patients who underwent palliative gastrectomy exhibited a noteworthy enhancement in overall survival (HR: 1.49; 95% CI: 1.12-1.99; P = 0.006) in comparison to those who did not receive this procedure. There was no association between the type of surgery and the length of hospital stay, as revealed by the analysis (HR = -0.02; 95% CI: -0.84-0.81; P = 0.970).ConclusionsBased on this meta-analysis, patients with advanced gastric cancer who underwent palliative gastrectomy may experience an extended survival duration without a significant prolongation of their hospitalization.