Early gastric cancer in the young: Clinicopathological study

Background: Thirty-four cases of early gastric carcinoma in patients under 50 years of age treated in the period from 1985 to 1995 were reviewed. Methods: These constituted 3.7% of 923 cases of gastric cancer in patients of all ages that were treated at Sendai National Hospital during the same 10-year period. Data were compared with those of 194 patients 50 years of age or older. Results: The incidence of gastric cancer in men and women was almost the same in both groups. Tumours tended to be located distally in the stomach. Macroscopically, depressed lesions were more common in younger patients. Significant differences were observed in depth of invasion, histological type and histological growth patterns. Conclusions: The distinctive histological features of early gastric cancer in younger patients were a diffuse type of cancer with infiltrative tumours in the mucosal layer. The prognosis of younger patients was similar to that of older patients.