title: HER2-positive gastric cancer showing marked thickening of the gastric wall on ultrasonographic and computed tomographic scans. a chance phenomenon or a specific behaviour of this cancer type? Report of three cases.
abstract: Worldwide, gastric cancer is the fourth most commonly diagnosed type of cancer and the second most common cause of cancer-related death. Recently, it was demonstrated that 15-20% of advanced gastro-oesophageal carcinomas overexpress human epidermal receptor 2 (HER2), one of a family of four identified human epidermal receptors. As in HER2-positive breast cancer, trastuzumab, a monoclonal antibody targeting HER2 receptor, with chemotherapy improves prognosis, time-to-progression and overall survival in patients with advanced gastric cancer. Computed tomography (CT) and ultrasound (US) imaging of gastric cancer has been previously reported, however, to our knowledge HER2-positive gastric adenocarcinoma appearance on US and CT scans has not been previously described and no CT and US images of this variant of adenocarcinoma have been found. We herein report three cases of patients with HER2-positive gastric cancer that showed a marked thickening of the gastric wall on US and CT examination.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology-Hematology, Guglielmo da Saliceto Hospital, Piacenza, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: DI Cicilia
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology-Hematology, Guglielmo da Saliceto Hospital, Piacenza, Italy.
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mordenti
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology-Hematology, Guglielmo da Saliceto Hospital, Piacenza, Italy.
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Anselmi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Guglielmo da Saliceto Hospital, Piacenza, Italy.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Paties
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Guglielmo da Saliceto Hospital, Piacenza, Italy.
authors.forename: Egidio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Carella
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology-Hematology, Guglielmo da Saliceto Hospital, Piacenza, Italy l.cavanna@ausl.pc.it.
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cavanna
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011706:Pyloric Antrum / Q000473:pathology; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014463:Ultrasonography
chemical_list: D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases
keywords: Gastric cancer; HER2-positive gastric adenocarcinoma; computed tomography; ultrasonography