Clinicopathologic features of gastric carcinoma with lymphoid stroma in early gastric cancer

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Gastric carcinoma with lymphoid stroma (GCLS) is a rare variant of gastric cancer. The aims of this study were to investigate the clinicopathologic features of GCLS in early gastric cancer (EGC).

METHODS: Analysis included 3,385 patients who were diagnosed with EGC after surgery between 2005 and 2012. This study compared GCLS with non-GCLS patients in terms of clinicopathological features including lymph node metastasis (LNM).

RESULTS: Forty-one (1.2%) patients were diagnosed as GCLS among those with EGC. When GCLS and non-GCLS patients were compared, the GCLS group showed a greater predominance among males, greater tendency towards proximal location, a more elevated gross appearance, and deeper submucosal invasion. In particular, more than 90% of GCLS cases showed deep submucosal invasion. The LNM rate was significantly lower in GCLS than non-GCLS cases after adjustment for depth of invasion. Among the GCLS group, there was no LNM in the cases with lesions confined to the mucosa or submucosal invasive lesions with tumor size ≤10?mm.

CONCLUSIONS: In EGC, GCLS showed deeper submucosal invasion and a lower LNM rate compared with non-GCLS. Thus, clinical considerations of GCLS may be helpful to decide on a specific cancer treatment.