Clinicopathologic characteristics of interval gastric cancer in Korea

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Interval gastric cancer (IGC) is defined as cancer that is diagnosed between the time of screening and postscreening esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD). Un-fortunately, little is known about the characteristics of IGC in Korea, a country with a high incidence of gastric cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinicopathologic char-acteristics of IGCs in Korea.

METHODS: From January 2006 to July 2011, a total of 81,762 subjects underwent screening EGD at Yonsei University Health Promotion Center, Seoul, Ko-rea. We defined missed cancer as cancer diagnosed within 1 year of screening EGD and latent cancer as cancer diag-nosed more than 1 year after EGD.

RESULTS: A total of 16 IGC patients (17 lesions; three missed cancers and 14 latent can-cers) were identified, with a mean age of 60.68 years and a mean interval time of 19.64 months. IGCs tended to be undifferentiated (12/17, 70.6%), located in the lower body of the stomach (12/17, 70.6%) and exhibited flat/depressed endoscopic morphology (11/17, 64.7%). The patients with missed cancer were generally younger than the patients with latent cancer (51.3 years vs 62.8 years, p=0.037), and the patients with undifferentiated cancer were significantly younger than those with differentiated cancer (57.0 years vs 68.8 years, p=0.008).

CONCLUSIONS: IGCs tended to be undif-ferentiated, located in the lower body of the stomach, and exhibited flat/depressed endoscopic morphology.