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Author Spotlight: Advancing Early Detection and Treatment of Gastrointestinal Tumors
Published on: February 16, 2024
Risk factors for lymph node metastasis in mucosal gastric cancer and re-evaluation of endoscopic submucosal
Si-Hak Lee1, Cheol Woong Choi2, Su Jin Kim2
1Department of Surgery, Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital, Yangsan, Korea.; Research Institute for Convergence of Biomedical Science and Technology, Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital, Yangsan, Korea.
Purpose:
The selection of the appropriate treatment strategy for patients with mucosal gastric cancer (MGC) remains controversial. In the present study, we aimed to determine the risk factors for lymph node (LN) metastasis in MGC and reassess the role of endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD).
Methods:
We examined 1,191 MGC patients who underwent curative gastrectomy between January 2005 and December 2014. We determined the clinicopathologic risk factors for LN metastasis among the MGC patients.
Results:
Among 1,191 patients with MGC, 42 patients (3.5%) had LN metastasis. Univariate analysis indicated that age ≤ 50 years (P = 0.045), tumor invasion to the muscularis mucosa (P < 0.001), tumor size > 2 cm (P = 0.014), presence of ulceration (P = 0.01), diffuse type as per Lauren classification (P = 0.005), and undifferentiated-type histology (P = 0.001) were associated with LN metastasis. Moreover, multivariate analysis indicated that tumor invasion to the muscularis mucosa (P = 0.001; odds ratio [OR], 4.909), presence of ulceration (P = 0.036; OR, 1.982), and undifferentiated-type histology (P = 0.025; OR, 4.233) were independent risk factors for LN metastasis. In particular, LN metastasis was observed in some MGC cases with indications for ESD, including absolute indications (1 of 179, 0.6%) and expanded indications (9 of 493, 1.8%).
Conclusion:
Although MGC patients can be treated via ESD, we recommend that they undergo a more aggressive treatment strategy if they have tumor invasion to the muscularis mucosa, ulceration, or undifferentiated-type histology in the final pathology report.
