Published online Oct 16, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i29.10451
Peer-review started: May 22, 2022
First decision: July 14, 2022
Revised: July 21, 2022
Accepted: September 1, 2022
Article in press: September 1, 2022
Published online: October 16, 2022
Processing time: 129 Days and 19 Hours
The clinicopathological features and prognosis of gastric signet ring cell carci
To compare the pathological features of GSRC with those of gastric adenocarcinoma of different degrees of differentiation and the differences in survival prognosis between the different disease processes.
By screening gastric cancer patients from 2010 to 2015 in the database of Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results, and collecting the clinicopathological and prognostic data of gastric cancer patients who underwent surgery from January 2014 to December 2016 in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, we analyzed the general pathological characteristics of GSRC by the chi-square test. Univariate and multivariate analyses were con
Analysis of pathological features revealed that signet ring-cell carcinoma (SRC) was more frequently seen in younger (< 60 years), female, and White patients compared to non-SRC patients. SRC was less commonly associated with early gastric cancer (EGC) (23.60% vs 39.10%), lower N0 (38.61% vs 61.03%), and larger tumour sizes > 5 cm (31.15% vs 27.10%) compared to the differentiated type, while the opposite was true compared to the undifferentiated type. Survival prognostic analysis found no significant difference in the prognosis of SRC patients among EGC patients. In contrast, among advanced gastric cancer (AGC) patients, the prognosis of SRC patients was correlated with age, race, tumour size, AJCC stage, T-stage, and postoperative adjuvant therapy. The predictive model showed that the 3-year AUC was 0.787, 5-year AUC was 0.806, and C-index was 0.766. Compared to non-SRC patients, patients with SRC had a better prognosis in EGC [hazard ratio (HR): 0.626, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.427-0.919, P < 0.05] and a worse prognosis in AGC (HR: 1.139, 95%CI: 1.030-1.258, P < 0.05). When non-SRC was divided into differentiated and undifferentiated types for comparison, it was found that in EGC, SRC had a better prognosis than differentiated and undifferentiated types, while there was no significant difference between differentiated and undifferentiated types. In AGC, there was no significant difference in prognosis between SRC and undifferentiated types, both of which were worse than differentiated types. A prognostic analysis of postoperative adjuvant therapy for SRC in patients with AGC revealed that adjuvant postoperative radiotherapy or chemotherapy significantly improved patient survival (34.6% and 36.2% vs 18.6%, P < 0.05).
The prognosis of SRC is better than that of undifferentiated type, especially in EGC, and its prognosis is even better than that of differentiated type. SRC patients can benefit from early detection, surgical resection, and aggressive adjuvant therapy.
Core Tip: This observational study analysed the clinicopathological features and prognosis of gastric signet ring cell carcinoma (GSRC). We compared GSRC with differentiated gastric adenocarcinoma and found that GSRC had unique clinicopathological features, was more common in younger female patients, and was more aggressive, showing higher lymph node metastasis and tumour size. However, the prognosis of early GSRC was relatively good, even better than that of differentiated adenocarcinoma. GSRC should be diagnosed early, and radical surgical resection with adjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy can significantly improve the survival rate of patients, though it still needs more clinical data to verify.