Abstract
A total of 400 cases of surgically removed carcinoma of the stomach between 1955 and 1967 were reclassified histologically in two basic types: the adenocarcinoma of intestinal type and the diffuse undifferentiated carcinoma. The identification of both types was possible in all cases, which were then divided thus: 296 (74%) of the intestinal and 104 (26%) of the diffuse type with a ratio of 2.85:1. The papillary, medullary, scirrhous and colloid variants of the intestinal type represented together 31.4% of these cases; the micro-glandular and the colloid variants of the diffuse carcinoma represented 53.8%. In the 127 regional cases (42.9%) of the intestinal type all the lymph node metastases had the same histological structure as the primary whereas in the 43 regional cases (41.3%) of the diffuse type the structure was of the intestinal type in 4 cases (9.3%). Atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia were found in the gastric mucosa adjacent to the tumor in 91.9% of the males and in 91.2% of the females with the intestinal type; corresponding figures for the diffuse carcinoma are 21.6% and 45.9% (p < 0.000000001). Of 296 cases of the intestinal type 194 were males and 102 females with a ratio M/F = 1.90; the ratio for 61 males and 43 females with diffuse carcinoma was 1.41. There was no evidence of a statistical relationship between sex and histological type of tumor. Mean age for males with the intestinal type was 59.0 yrs, with diffuse carcinoma 55.9 (p < 0.05); for females with the intestinal type was 60.6 yrs, and with diffuse carcinoma 55.3 (p < 0.001). The age-group with the highest predominance of diffuse carcinoma was below 55 years (54.8% of the cases). In females below 55 yrs of age the diffuse type was more frequent than the intestinal type. In the three age groups considered (≤ 55, 56–65, ≥ 65 years) the diffuse carcinoma showed the same distribution in both sexes, whereas the intestinal type revealed less uniformity. Survival rates after 5 years followup of 221 patients with localized disease calculated by means of the life table method were 50% for the intestinal type and 42% for the diffuse carcinoma. Median survival time was 4 years and 9 months for the former and 3 years and 6 months for the latter. Adequate information on 264 cases demonstrated that 70% lived in the Province of Milan; the ratio of intestinal type carcinomas to diffuse carcinomas was 3.33 in Brianza (provincial area north of Milan) and 2.05 in the city of Milan. No relevant association was found between blood group and histologic type of carcinoma. From 1955 to 1967 the ratio between the intestinal and the diffuse type in the patients operated in this Institute seemed to indicated a slightly increasing trend.
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