title: Has desmoplastic response extent protective action against tumor aggressiveness in gastric carcinoma?
abstract: A clinical assessment of protective action of desmoplastic response by limiting tumor aggressiveness has been carried out in 171 patients with gastric carcinoma, surgically treated at the First Surgical Clinic of the University of Rome "La Sapienza" between 1988-1999. A univariate statistical analysis was performed using Kaplan-Meier method for: desmoplastic reaction, age, sex, histologic type, tumor size, stage, lymphonodal status and metastases. To determine the influence of these factors on prognosis, the Cox regression was applied. We found a significant association between desmoplastic reaction extent and presence or absence of metastases (p= 0.026), lymphonodal involvement (p = 0.05), stage (p = 0.036). In the univariate analysis, survival was significantly related to sex (p = 0.012), tumor size (p = 0.009), lymphonodal involvement (p = 0.000), metastases (p = 0.000), stage (p = 0.000), desmoplastic reaction extent (p = 0.05); age and histologic type showed no relationship (p = n.s.). The desmoplastic response extent is not a protective factor against tumor invasiveness in gastric carcinoma, on the contrary it may be considered a negative prognostic factor.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Surgery Pietro Valdoni, Università di Roma La Sapienza, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Caporale
authors.forename: U M
authors.initials: UM
authors.lastname: Cosenza
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Vestri
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giuliani
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Costi
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Galati
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cannaviello
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Franchi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D015996:Survival Rate; D013997:Time Factors