Mucinous gastric carcinoma: an update of clinicopathologic features and prognostic value from a retrospective study of clinical series

Mucinous gastric carcinoma (MGC) is a specific type of gastric carcinoma, but its clinicopathologic characteristics remains obscured. Our study aimed to explore clinical features and prognostic value of MGC. This retrospective study included a total of 996 patients with primary gastric carcinoma from June 1994 to December 2006. Patients with gastric carcinoma were divided into MGC, other poorly differentiated (PD), and well or moderately differentiated groups. In all, 68 (6.8%) of 996 patients had MGC, with 599 (60.2%) cases for PD. Our study found that MGC had older age, more distant and peritoneal metastasis, but less radical gastrectomy than PD. Furthermore, the overall survival rate of MGC declined compared with PD gastric cancer (22.3% vs. 28.8%, P=0.032). Younger age (<= 60 ys), smaller size (<= 5 cm), Bormann III type, and lymph node metastasis were linked to poorer prognosis of MGC. However, MGC itself was not an independent prognostic factor of gastric carcinoma. In conclusion, MGC was associated with poorer prognosis than other types of gastric carcinoma but was not an independent predictive factor for survival, which called for further lucubration of this distinctive type of gastric carcinoma.