Comparison between better and poorly differentiated locally advanced gastric cancer in preoperative chemotherapy: a retrospective, comparative study at a single tertiary care institute.

Background: Gastric cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related mortality in China, and the long-term survival for locally advanced gastric cancer is very poor. Simple surgery cannot yield an ideal result because of the high recurrence rate after tumor resection. Preoperative chemotherapy could help to reduce tumor volume, improve the R0 resection rate (no residual tumor after surgery), and decrease the risk of local tumor recurrence.