Objective   To investigate the clinicopathological characteristics and prognostic factors of gastric stump cancer (GSC).

  Methods   Clinicopathological data of 105 patients diagnosed with GSC at Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital between May 2004 and July 2017 were retrospectively analyzed.

  Results   Comparison of clinicopathological features of GSC-B and GSC-M: the average ages of the patients in the GSC-B and GSC-M groups were (63.22±8.95) and (58.93±10.06) years, respectively, and the male: female ratios in the GSC-B and GSC-M groups were 17.5:1.0 and 2.6:1.0, respectively. The time intervals from initial surgery to the diagnosis of GSC in the two groups were (390.95±95.18) and (64.53±73.15) months, respectively; the numbers of lymph nodes harvested in the GSC-B and GSC-M groups were 17.6±12.5 and 6.2±6.5, respectively; and the ratios of well differentiation to poor differentiation in the GSC-B and GSC-M groups were 0.89:1 and 0.20:1, respectively. The differences between all the above factors were statistically significant (P < 0.05). Comparison of clinicopathological features of the anastomotic site group and non-anastomotic site group: there was no statistical difference between all the clinicopathological features (P > 0.05). Univariate analysis showed that distant metastasis and R0 resection were prognostic factors in the patients with GSC. Multivariate analysis showed that R0 resection was an independent prognostic factor in the patients with GSC.

  Conclusions  The clinicopathological features of patients in the GSC-B and GSC-M groups were different. Patients with GSC would not benefit from palliative surgery if they could not receive radical surgery. R0 resection is an independent prognostic factor for patients with GSC.