title: Factors predicting survival in patients with proximal gastric carcinoma involving the esophagus.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the clinicopathologic features which predict surgical overall survival in patients with proximal gastric carcinoma involving the esophagus (PGCE).
  
  
  METHODS
  Electronic pathology database established in the Department of Pathology of the Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital was searched for consecutive resection cases of proximal gastric carcinoma over the period from May 2004 through July 2009. Each retrieved pathology report was reviewed and the cases with tumors crossing the gastroesophageal junction line were selected as PGCE. Each tumor was re-staged, following the guidelines on esophageal adenocarcinoma, according to the 7th edition of the American Joint Commission on Cancer Staging Manual. All histology slides were studied along with the pathology report for a retrospective analysis of 13 clinicopathologic features, i.e., age, gender, Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection, surgical modality, Siewert type, tumor Bormann's type, size, differentiation, histology type, surgical margin, lymphovascular and perineural invasion, and pathologic stage in relation to survival after surgical resection. Prognostic factors for overall survival were assessed with uni- and multi-variate analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients' mean age was 65 years (range: 47-90 years). The male: female ratio was 3.3. The 1-, 3- and 5-year overall survival rates were 87%, 61% and 32%, respectively. By univariate analysis, age, male gender, H. pylori, tumor Bormann's type, size, histology type, surgical modality, positive surgical margin, lymphovascular invasion, and pT stage were not predictive for overall survival; in contrast, perineural invasion (P = 0.003), poor differentiation (P = 0.0003), > 15 total lymph nodes retrieved (P = 0.008), positive lymph nodes (P = 0.001), and distant metastasis (P = 0.005) predicted poor post-operative overall survival. Celiac axis nodal metastasis was associated with significantly worse overall survival (P = 0.007). By multivariate analysis, ≥ 16 positive nodes (P = 0.018), lymph node ratio > 0.2 (P = 0.003), and overall pathologic stage (P = 0.002) were independent predictors for poor overall survival after resection.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients with PGCE showed worse overall survival in elderly, high nodal burden and advanced pathologic stage. This cancer may be more accurately staged as gastric, than esophageal, cancer.
authors: Department of Pathology, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, the Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing 210008, Jiangsu Province, China.
authors: Yi-Fen
authors: YF
authors: Zhang
authors: Jiong
authors: J
authors: Shi
authors: Hui-Ping
authors: HP
authors: Yu
authors: An-Ning
authors: AN
authors: Feng
authors: Xiang-Shan
authors: XS
authors: Fan
authors: Gregory Y
authors: GY
authors: Lauwers
authors: Hiroshi
authors: H
authors: Mashimo
authors: Jason S
authors: JS
authors: Gold
authors: Gang
authors: G
authors: Chen
authors: Qin
authors: Q
authors: Huang
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000401:mortality* / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D004943:Esophagogastric Junction / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D015996:Survival Rate; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome