Clinicopathological characteristics of gastric cancer in adolescents aged 10-24 years: 17-year experience of 17 years in a single institute

Abstract

Objective: Gastric cancer in adolescents is rare, with only a few cases reported in the literature. The purpose of this study is to investigate the clinicopathological features and prognostic factors of gastric cancer in adolescents aged 10-24 years. Methods: A case-controlled study was performed. The clinicopathological data of gastric cancer patients aged 10-24 years who were treated at the First Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital from February 2000 to February 2017 were retrospectively collected and compared with those patients over 40 years old at the same period, which were randomly selected in a ratio of 1:2. All the patients were followed up until June 2019 and Cox proportional hazard model was used to analyze prognostic factors in the adolescent patients. Results: A total of 63 adolescent gastric cancer patients (0.4% of all 14 794 gastric cancer patients) were enrolled, including 31 males (49.2%) and 32 females (50.8%), with a mean body mass index of (19.5±4.3) kg/m(2). Before diagnosis, Only 35 cases (55.6%) had warning symptoms such as weight loss, ascites, obstruction, hematemesis, black stool, etc.; 5 cases (7.9%) had a family history of gastrointestinal tumor. The median duration of symptoms before diagnosis was 3 months. At diagnosis, 58 cases (92.1%) were poorly differentiated, 57 cases (90.5%) were T3-4 stage, 19 cases (30.2%) were signet ring cell cancer or mucous adenocarcinoma, 57 cases (90.5%) had lymph node metastasis, and 36 cases (57.1%) had distant metastasis. Twenty-nine patients (46.0%) underwent radical surgery, 12 patients underwent palliative surgery, 5 patients underwent exploratory laparotomy, 17 patients were unable to operate due to late stage. Of 56 cases (88.9%) with TNM stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ, 51 patients (81.0%) received chemotherapy. Of the 126 patients over 40 years old, 98 cases (77.8%) were male and 28 cases (22.2%) were female, and the mean body mass index was (23.8±3.2) kg/m(2). There were 60 cases (47.6%) with low differentiation, 90 cases (71.4%) with T3-4, 16 cases (12.7%) with signet ring cell cancer and mucous cell cancer, 79 cases (62.7%) with lymph node metastasis, and 12 cases (9.5%) with distant metastasis. A total of 115 cases (91.3%) underwent radical surgery. Of 74 cases (58.7%) with TNM stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ, 67 cases received (53.2%) chemotherapy. The 63 adolescent gastric cancer patients had lower body mass index, and higher proportion in female, poorly differentiation, signet ring cell cancer and mucous cell cancer, T3-4 stage, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, TNM stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ and receiving chemotherapy compared with 126 gastric cancer patients over 40 years old (all P<0.05). Among the 63 adolescent gastric cancer patients, 52 cases (82.5%) were followed up with median follow-up time of 72.1 (36.1, 100.8) months, and the median survival time was 10.4 months (95% CI: 6.5-15.1). The 1-year, 3-year and 5-year survival rates were 44.2%, 25.0% and 18.0%, respectively. Univariate analysis showed that the depth of tumor invasion (HR=7.15, 95% CI:1.71-29.89, P=0.007), lymph node metastasis (HR=6.00, 95% CI:1.42 - 25.42, P=0.015), distant metastasis (HR=7.25, 95% CI: 3.25 - 16.18, P<0.001), TNM stage (HR=5.49, 95% CI: 1.67-18.12, P=0.005) and tumor resection (HR=0.18, 95% CI: 0.09-0.37, P<0.001) were the risk factors affecting the prognosis of adolescent gastric cancer patients. Multivariate survival analysis showed that distant metastasis was an independent factor for gastric cancer survival in adolescents (HR=3.67, 95% CI: 1.32-10.19, P=0.012). Conclusions: Gastric cancer in adolescents is insidious and progresses rapidly. Most of them are in the advanced stage at diagnosis and have low rate of radical excision.