[Does Ming's classification of gastric carcinomas have epidemiologic or prognostic value?]

The population based registry of digestive tract tumours of the country of Cote-d'Or was used to assess the epidemiological and prognostic value of Ming classification. The 211 gastric carcinomas operated or autopsied between 1976 and 1981 in this population were reviewed on a pathological basis. The expansive type (46.0%) was nearly as frequent as the infiltrative type (47.9%). In 6.2% of the cases it was impossible to classify carcinomas in one of these two types. The male/female ratio was higher in the expansive type (3.0) than in the infiltrative type (2.2) and the mean age of patients at the time of diagnosis was higher in the expansive type (69.5 years) than in the infiltrate type (66.4 years p less than 0,05). Ming classification was difficult to use with superficial carcinomas: 9 out of 12 could not be classified. Among invasive cancers only 1.5% were not classified in one of the two types. Polypoid and fungating carcinomas were more often of the expansive type (70.1%). On the contrary infiltrative carcinomas (ulcerated or not) corresponded to the infiltrative type of Ming in 65.6%. It was not possible to extrapolate the WHO classification to the Ming classification. Infiltrative carcinomas were more often associated with hyperplastic stroma (38.1%) than did expansive carcinomas (5.2%) the proportion of carcinomas limited to the digestive wall was higher in the expansive type (21.7%) than in the infiltrative type (5.0%). The survival rate was better in the expansive type (41.4%) than in the infiltrative type (30.1%) but the difference was not significant. The prognosis depended partly on the time of diagnosis. The results suggest that Ming classification has an epidemiological interest. It allows us to distinguish two types of carcinomas that appear quite different on basis of their growth and penetration capacity. However its prognostic interest appears limited.