Table 1.

Summary table of local, nodal and haematogenous spread in gastric cancer

Local spread	•Local spread into adjacent structures (e.g. pancreas, colon, spleen)
Lymph node spread	•Perigastric: pericardial; lesser curvature; greater curvature; suprapyloric
	•Extraperigastric: left gastric; common hepatic; coeliac; splenic hilum and artery; hepatic pedicle; retropancreatic; mesenteric root; middle colic; para-aortic
Haematogenous spread	•Most commonly the liver (25% at presentation) and peritoneum
Notes	•Transcoelomic spread can occur through the peritoneum (e.g. Kruckenberg tumours)
	•Retropancreatic, para-aortic and mesenteric nodes are classified as M1 metastatic disease
	•Nodal disease in GIST tumours is extremely rare