Positive margin (R1) in the intraoperative biopsy during a total gastrectomy for gastric cancer

Abstract

Gastric cancer is a pathology with a high incidence in Chile, fortunately, the incidence of R1 margins is low when performing surgery with curative intent. When having a sub cardial or cardial tumor, it is essential to perform a rapid (intraoperative) biopsy, if this is positive when cutting the esophagus just under the pillars, it is difficult to make the decision of what to do next, since performing an inthrathoracic esophagojejunostomy increases the surgical risk. For this, it is very important to have information about the histopathological characteristics of the tumor, the leakage risk, there currence, the survival, the adjuvant therapies and the reality of the country. A review of the literature was done in order to guide the decisions.