Korean J Pathol.  1986 Mar;20(1):49-59.

The Frequency of Enterochromaffin Cells in Stomach and Intestinal Carcinoma

• Lee HY
• Lee KG
• Lee YB

Abstract

In 1927, Hamperl carried out histochemical studies on gastric cancer and found one case which contained many Fontana reactive argentaffin cells. Thereafter the gastric and intestinal adenocarcinomas which contain enterochromaffin cells such as argentaffin cell and argyrophil cell have been reported by several investigators. As the results, many reports revealed that 1.7 to 8% of gastric carcinomas and about 3% of intestinal carcinomas contained argentaffin cells, and 13 to 20% of gastric carcinomas and 12 to 15% of intestinal carcinomas contained argyrophil cells. The present study is aimed to evaluate the frequency of argentaffin and argyrophil cells in gastric and intestinal carcinoma in relation to the histopathological patterns. The material consisted of 282 cases of gastric adenocarcinoma and 83 cases of intestinal carcinoma which were diagnosed at the Department of Pathology, Yonsei University College of Medicine from January 1982 through December 1983. All cases were stained with hematoxylin-eosin for histological classification and with silver impregnation techniques for argentaffin and argyrophil granules. Staining for mucin was also performed using PAS stain. The results obtained were as follows: 1) Among 282 cases of gastric carcinomas, Grimelius positive argyrophil cells are noted in 43 cases (15.2%) and Fontana-Masson positive argentaffin cells are noted in 5 cases (1.8%). 2) Among 83 cases of intestinal carcinomas, Grimelius positive argyrophil cells are noted in 15 cases (18.2%) and Fontana-Masson positive argentaffin cells are noted in 1 cases (1.2%). 3) In gastric carcinoma, argyrophil cells are present in 31 cases (17.5%) among 176 male patients and and in 12 cases (11.3%) among 106 female patients. 4) In intestinal carcinoma, argyrophil cells are present in 9 cases (20.4%) amogn 44 male patients, and in 6 cases (15.4%) among 39 female patients. 5) According to classification by Willis, argyrophil cells are present in 12 cases (11.1%) among 108 well to moderately well differentiated adenocarcinoma, 14 cases (14.4%) among 99 poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma, 6 cases (30%) among 20 mucinous carcinoma, and 11 cases (21.1%) among 52 undifferentiated carcinoma. There is no significant difference in the frequency of argyrophil cells in relation to the histological type. 6) According to general classification of intestinal carcinoma, argyrophil cells are present in 9 cases (21.4%) among 42 well to moderately well differentiated adenocarcinoma, 3 cases (15%) among 25 poorly differentiated adrcinom adenocarcinoma and and cases (18.7%) among 16 mucinous carcinoma. The argentaffin cells were noted only in one case, which was the case of well to moderately well differentiated adenocarcinoma. In summary, the results of this study indicates that the frequency of enterochromaffin cells was 15.2% in stomach carcinoma and 18.2% in intestinal carcinoma. According to histological type, the Grimelius positivity was higher in mucinous and undifferentiated type, and higher frequency was noted in male than female.

MeSH Terms

Female
Male
Humans
Adenocarcinoma
Stomach Neoplasms