Background and Objectives: Clinicopathologic characteristics of mucinous ga
stric carcinoma (MGC) are unclear, and whether surgical results of MGC are
unfavorable is controversial. Pathology and prognosis of patients with MGC
were studied using multivariate analysis.
Methods: The study included 17 patients with MGC and 614 with nonmucinous g
astric carcinoma (NGC). The tumor was defined as MC-C when more than one ha
lf of tumor area had mucin pools. Patients were evaluated with regard to ag
e, ses, rumor location, size, gross type, depth of wall invasion, lymph nod
e metastasis, lymphatic and vascular permeations. stage of disease, and ope
rative curability.
Results: MGC tumors, when compared with NGC tumors, were featured by the la
rge size (9.0 vs. 5.2 cm), grossly infiltrative type (76 vs. 30%), T2 or mo
re invasion (100 vs 53%), positive lymph node metastasis (88 vs. 32%), lymp
hatic permeation (94 vs. 55%), vascular permeation (47 vs. 25%), and stages
III and IV (88 vs. 32%). On a multivariate analysis, mucinous histologic t
ype was not an independent prognostic factor. Although 5-year survival rate
for all MGC patients was lower than that for all NGC patients, the surviva
l rate was not different between the MGC and NGC patients when compared in
the same category of tumor size, depth of wall invasion, lymph node metasta
sis, and stage.
Conclusions: MGC is tare and detested mostly in an advanced stage. Mucinous
histologic type itself is not a prognostic significance in patients with g
astric carcinoma, and the biologic behavior of MGC is similar to that of or
dinary advanced gastric carcinoma. (C) 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.