Histopathologic characteristics of gastric adenocarcinoma in Mexican patients: a 10-year experience at the Hospital Juarez of Mexico

Background: Gastric cancer is the second cause of death by cancer worldwide. Histologic classification may predict tumor biology, clinical behavior, and outcome. According to the Lauren classification, the disease is divided into 2 types, diffuse and intestinal, and the latter has a better prognosis. Aim: To determine the frequency of gastric adenocarcinoma and compare the histopathologic characteristics of intestinal and diffuse-type gastric adenocarcinoma in Mexican patients treated at a tertiary referral hospital. Methodology: A retrospective study evaluated the pathology reports of patients with gastric adenocarcinoma corresponding to the time frame of January 2003 to December 2012. Adenocarcinomas of the gastric cardia were excluded. Frequencies were expressed as percentages and the categorical variables were compared with the chi-square test. Statistical significance was set at a P<.05. Results: A total of 417 cases of gastric adenocarcinoma were found, 230 (55.2%) of which were diffuse-type and 118 (28.2%) were intestinal-type. The mean age of the patients with diffuse type gastric cancer was 54.02 +/- 14.93 and 119 (51.3%) of those patients were men. The mean age of the patients with intestinal-type gastric cancer was 63.43 +/- 13.78, and 69 (62.2%) were men. Ninety-two of the diffuse-type patients were under the age of 50 years, compared with 22 of the patients with intestinal-type carcinoma. Conclusions: This is the first study on the Mexican population to analyze the differences in the histologic types of adenocarcinoma. Diffuse-type gastric carcinoma was the most frequent subtype in our study population and it is associated with worse outcome. (C) 2014 Asociacion Mexicana de Gastroenterologia. Published by Masson Doyma Mexico S.A. All rights reserved.