Clinicopathological profile and its association with peritoneal disease among gastric cancer patients

There are no clinicopathological criteria or test to predict peritoneal metastasis either in primary or recurrent gastric cancer. The early prediction will help in altering or adding other adjuvant potential therapy modalities like HIPEC and maintenance chemotherapy. Paraffin based blocks of 110 gastric tumor specimens were subjected to IHC staining to assess VEGF, Her 2 neu, E cadherin, bcl 2 and p 53 expression and its association with peritoneal disease evaluated. Her 2 neu uptake was present in 17.3%, bcl-2 expression in 19.1%, P53 expression in 40.9%, VEGF in 41.8% and E cadherin expression in 49.1% patients. On univariate analysis, a younger age(p = .029), female sex(p = .026), positive VEGF expression (p = .001) and p53 expression(p = .015) were significantly associated with peritoneal disease. A binomial logistic regression was performed to ascertain the effects of independent variables evaluated on univariate analysis. Of the 10 predictors variables, only three were statistically significant: tumor type, P53, and VEGF. Positive VEGF expression had 48.7, E cadherin 2.6 and Her2neu 1.5 times higher odds of exhibiting peritoneal disease. A younger age, female sex, distal 2/3rd, diffuse variant, VEGF staining in >10% cells and decrease p53 expression were associated with peritoneal disease. •Predicting peritoneal metastasis in gastric cancer is the need of the hour and early detection helps in altering adjuvant treatment modality.•Expression of VEGF, Her 2neu, E cadherin, bcl2 and p53 was assessed in 110 patients.•Positive VEGF expression had 48.7 times higher odds of exhibiting peritoneal disease.•Decreased p53 expression was associated with Peritoneal disease.•Younger age, females, distal & diffuse variant were also were associated with PD.