Factors predicting survival in patients with proximal gastric carcinoma involving the esophagus

AIM： To investigate the clinicopathologic features which predict surgical overall survival in patients with proxima gastric carcinoma involving the esophagus （PGCE）. METHODS： Electronic pathology database established in the Department of Pathology of the Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital was searched for consecutive resection cases of proximal gastric carcinoma over the period from May 2004 through July 2009. Each retrieved pa- thology report was reviewed and the cases with tumors crossing the gastroesophageal junction line were se- lected as PGCE. Each tumor was re-staged, following the guidelines on esophageal adenocarcinoma, accord- ing to the 7th edition of the American Joint Commission on Cancer Staging Manual. All histology slides were studied along with the pathology report for a retrospec- tive analysis of 13 clinicopathologic features, i.e., age, gender, Helicobacter pylori （H. pylon} infection, surgical modality, Siewert type, tumor Bormann＇s type, size, dif- ferentiation, histology type, surgical margin, lympho- vascular and perineural invasion, and pathologic stage in relation to survival after surgical resection. Prognos- tic factors for overall survival were assessed with uni- and multi-variate analyses. RESULTS： Patients＇ mean age was 65 years （range： 47-90 years）. The male： female ratio was 3.3. The 1-, 3- and 5-year overall survival rates were 87%, 61% and 32%, respectively. By univariate analysis, age, male gender, H. pylori, tumor Bormann＇s type, size, histology type, surgical modality, positive surgical margin, lym- phovascular invasion, and pT stage were not predictive for overall survival; in contrast, perineural invasion （P = 0.003）, poor differentiation （P = 0.0003）, 〉 15 to- tal lymph nodes retrieved （P = 0.008）, positive lymph nodes （P = 0.001）, and distant metastasis （P = 0.005） predicted poor post-operative overall survival. Celiac axis nodal metastasis was associated with significantly worse overall survival （P = 0.007）. By multivariate analysis, ≥ 16 positive nodes （P = 0.018）, lymph node ratio 〉 0.2 （P = 0.003）, and overall pathologic stage （P= 0.002） were independent predictors for poor overa survival after resection. CONCLUSION： Patients with PGCE showed worse over- all survival in elderly, high nodal burden and advanced pathologic stage. This cancer may be more accurately staged as gastric, than esophageal, cancer.