[Pathological study of hepatoid gastric adenocarcinomas]

Routine examination of pathologic sections in 500 cases of primary gastric adenocarcinomas was carried out by light microscopy. Regions of hepatocellular carcinomatoid differentiation were discovered in 12 of the 500 cases. In 11 of them, histopathologic features were described in great detail and the hepatocellular carcinomatoid regions were studied by four kinds of immunohistochemistrical methods. The results indicate that positive staining for AFP was seen in 9 cases but negative in 9 controls, weakly positive for CEA in 10 cases, but strongly positive in 8 controls. Staining for alpha 1-AT and alpha 1-ACT showed no differences as compared to controls. The clinical pathological features and its relationship with AFP are discussed. It is suggested that hepatoid gastric adenocarcinoma is a subtype of gastric adenocarcinoma.