Clinical characteristics of young-age onset gastric cancer in Korea.

Jieun Lee,In-Ho Kim,Sang-Young Roh,Myung Ah Lee

doi:10.1186/s12876-016-0528-y

Jieun Lee, In-Ho Kim + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1186/s12876-016-0528-y

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Abstract

BackgroundGastric cancer is the fourth most common cancer worldwide and more frequently detected in Asian countries including Korea and Japan. The incidence of young-age gastric cancer (GC) is increasing worldwide, but clinical behavior of young-age GC patients is not well established. We retrospectively analyzed the clinical features and outcomes of GC diagnosed at young-age population.MethodsBetween Jan. 2009 to Jan. 2015, 163 patients diagnosed as early, advanced, recurrent, or metastatic GC at ages between 22 ~ 39 years were analyzed. Based on medical records, authors analyzed the clinicopathologic characteristics and survival outcomes including overall survival (OS), disease free survival (DFS), and progression free survival (PFS).ResultsOne-hundred and four patients (82.8 %) were diagnosed as GC at their thirties; especially 81 patients (31.2 %) patients were diagnosed over 35 years of age. The ratio of early GC and advanced GC were relatively similar (47.2 % vs. 52.8 %, respectively). Among stage II and III patients, 45 patients received 5-FU based adjuvant chemotherapy and recurrence rate was 48.9 %. Among patients diagnosed as recurrent or metastatic GC, recurrent GC patients showed relatively superior PFS and OS after cancer recurrence, compared to metastatic GC patients, but without statistical significance. Among metastatic GC patients, patients receiving palliative debulking surgery for ovary metastases showed superior PFS compared to patients who only received palliative systemic chemotherapy (P = 0.021, PFS 7.7 vs. 3.37 months, respectively).ConclusionsYoung age GC were commonly diagnosed at their thirties, without sexual predominance. The incidence of advanced GC in young age patients were higher compared to general patient population. Among recurrent GC patients, palliative debulking surgery might have role for superior survival outcomes. Considering relatively higher incidence for advanced GC, active surveillance for gastric cancer is warranted.

Highlights

Gastric cancer is the fourth most common cancer worldwide and more frequently detected in Asian countries including Korea and Japan
The incidence of gastric cancer (GC) is decreasing in Western, the incidence of GC remains high in Asia
Lee et al BMC Gastroenterology (2016) 16:110 have reported poor prognosis of young age GC patients compared to general population [10, 11], but other studies report equivalent or better prognosis between young and elderly GC patients [5, 12]

Summary

Introduction

Gastric cancer is the fourth most common cancer worldwide and more frequently detected in Asian countries including Korea and Japan. The incidence of young-age gastric cancer (GC) is increasing worldwide, but clinical behavior of young-age GC patients is not well established. We retrospectively analyzed the clinical features and outcomes of GC diagnosed at young-age population. Lee et al BMC Gastroenterology (2016) 16:110 have reported poor prognosis of young age GC patients compared to general population [10, 11], but other studies report equivalent or better prognosis between young and elderly GC patients [5, 12]. The clinical characteristics of young age GC is analyzed based on a heterogeneous patient population with regard to races and different definitions of young age population, resulting to various results

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