The Characteristics and Prognosis of Diffuse-Type Early Gastric Cancer Diagnosed during Health Check-Ups

Because of the poor prognosis of diffuse-type gastric cancer, early detection is important. We investigated the clinical characteristics and prognosis of diffuse-type early gastric cancer (EGC) diagnosed in subjects during health check-ups. Among 121,111 subjects who underwent gastroscopy during a routine health check-up, we identified 282 patients with 286 EGC lesions and reviewed their clinical and tumor-specific parameters. Patients with diffuse-type EGC were younger, and 48.1% of them were female. Serum anti- IgG (Hp-IgG) was positive in 90.7% of diffuse-type EGC patients (vs 75.9% of intestinal-type EGC, p=0.002), and the proportion of diffuse-type EGC cases increased significantly with increasing Hp-IgG serum titers (p