Pathological Study on the Early Gastric Cancer

Choi, Weon Young; Suk, Dong Su; Lee, Sun Keong

Abstract

Pathological study was performed on the 135 cases (137 lesion) of early gastric cancer (EGC) diagnosed during the period from 1970 to 1988. The gastrectomy specimens were obtained from Pusan National University Hospital and Pusan Paik Hospital. The statistical analysis was applied on the point of pathological and epidemiological aspects. The results obtained were summarized as follows: 1) The proportion of patients with EGC of all gastric cancer diagnosed in Pusan area during the period of 1970 to 1974 was 1.3%, those during 1975 to 1979 was 1.7%, those during 1980 to 1984 was 7.8%, and those during 1985 to 1988 was 20.0% respectively. 2) The model age group was 6th decade in both sexes. The average age of patients with EGC was 50. 1-year-old in men and 47. 9-year-old in women respectively. The sex ratio (M/F) was 2 : 1 but it was lower for young people than for old people. 3) The proportion of sites involved by the EGC in the stomach was as follows : the antrum 61%, the body 39%, and the cardia and fundus 0.01%. The intestinal type cancer more frequently involved the lower portion than the upper portion of the stomach. 4) Regarding the distribution of the gross types of EGC, the elevated group (Type I, IIa) accounted for 14%, the flat type (Type IIb) accounted for 4%, and the depressed group (Type IIc, III) accounted for 82%. There was no correlation between the gross type and the depth of the lesion. The elevated group was more frequent in intestinal type than in diffuse type. 5) The size distribution of the EGC was as follows : 46% of the lesions were smaller than 2.0 cm in diameter, 47% were between 2.1 to 5.0 cm, and 7% were larger than 5.1 cm. There was no correlation between the size of the lesion and the gross type. 6) The intestinal type of EGC was 77 lesions (56.2%) and the diffuse type 60 lesions (43.8%). The ratio of both types (I/D) was 1.3 : 1, and it was lower for younger people than for old people. 7) Ten of 135 cases (7%) had lymph node metastases. The metastatic rate of EGC confined to submucosa was much higher than that of EGC confined to mucosa only, but the metastatic rate was not related with the size of the lesion.