title: Clinicopathological features and prognosis of gastric cancer in young patients.
abstract: The clinicopathological features and prognosis of gastric cancer in young patients are both limited and controversial. Therefore, the aim of this study was to define the clinicopathological features and prognosis of gastric cancer in young patients after curative resection.
  
  
  
  From May 2008 to December 2014, 198 young patients (age ≤ 40 years) and 1096 middle-aged patients (55 ≤ age ≤ 64 years) were enrolled in this study. The clinicopathological features and prognosis of gastric cancer in these patients were analyzed.
  
  
  
  Compared with middle-aged patients, the proportion of females, lower third tumors, tumor size less than 5 cm, poorly differentiated tumors and T1 tumors were significantly higher in young patients (all P < 0.05). The proportions of comorbidity, upper third tumors, well and moderately differentiated tumors, T4 tumors, and positive carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), alpha fetoprotein (AFP) and carbohydrate antigen (CA) 19-9 were significantly lower in young patients (all P < 0.05). The distributions of N status and CA125 were comparable between young and middle-aged patients (all P > 0.05). The five-year overall survival rates were comparable between young patients and middle-aged patients (62.8 vs 54.7 %, P = 0.307). The tumor location, T status, N status and CA125 were independent predictors of prognosis in young patients. The overall survival of patients with tumors located in the upper or middle third was significantly lower than for those located in the lower third (60.8 vs 50.6 % vs 68.4 %, P = 0.016). The overall survival of CA125-positive patients was significantly lower than CA125-negative patients (49.0 vs 64.4 %, P = 0.001).
  
  
  
  The clinicopathological features were significantly different between young and middle-aged patients. The prognosis of gastric cancer in young patients was equivalent to that of middle-aged patients. Tumor location, T status, N status and CA125 were independent risk factors for prognosis in young patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Digestive Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, 127 West Changle Road, 710032, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Shushang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Digestive Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, 127 West Changle Road, 710032, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China. surgeonfengfan@163.com.
authors.forename: Fan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Department of Digestive Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, 127 West Changle Road, 710032, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Guanghui
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Digestive Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, 127 West Changle Road, 710032, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, 127 West Changle Road, 710032, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Yangzi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: Department of Digestive Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, 127 West Changle Road, 710032, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Man
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Digestive Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, 127 West Changle Road, 710032, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lian
authors.affiliation: Department of Digestive Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, 127 West Changle Road, 710032, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: Department of Digestive Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, 127 West Changle Road, 710032, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Daiming
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Department of Digestive Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, 127 West Changle Road, 710032, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China. zhanghwfmmu@126.com.
authors.forename: Hongwei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D002288:Adenocarcinoma, Mucinous / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D018279:Carcinoma, Signet Ring Cell / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Age; Gastric cancer, Young, Clinicopathological features, Prognosis