Histopathology-based prognostic score is independent prognostic factor of gastric carcinoma

BACKGROUND: The aim of our study was to evaluate the histological characteristics and prognosis of gastric cancer. METHODS: Clinicopathlogical variables of 932 patients with gastric carcinoma admitted to the Department of Surgical Oncology at the First Hospital of China Medical University were analyzed retrospectively. Different histological characteristics of gastric cancer were summarized and assigned score according to the malignancy defined by WHO classification, the scores were stratified into 4 stage, the prognosis of different stages were analyzed by Kaplan-Meier analysis and cox regression. RESULTS: Among the 932 patients, 246 (26.39%) had mixed histology type of gastric cancer. Compared to the pure histological type, mixed histological type of gastric cancer was significant associated with tumor size, lymph node metastasis and depth of invasion (all P < 0.05). The 5-year survival rates of advanced and early gastric cancer patients with mixed type were 40.8% and 83.5% respectively, which were lower than those with pure type (50.0% and 95.8%, P < 0.01). Statistically significant difference with stratification of early and advanced stage could be observed between patients with the histological grading score. The data showed that the histological score could be the independent factor of prognosis. CONCLUSIONS: The histological score is an independent factor of gastric cancer, it exerts an excellent ability to classify survival of patients with gastric carcinoma. It also provides a new strategy and parameter for evaluating the biological behavior and prognosis of gastric cancer.