FEATURES OF GASTRIC-CANCER IN HEREDITARY NONPOLYPOSIS COLORECTAL-CANCER SYNDROME

To identify characteristics of gastric cancer associated with heredita ry non-polyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC), we gathered clinical data and tumor samples relating to patients recorded in the Finnish HNPCC r egistry, Our series included 51 families with a characterized mutation and/or that met the Amsterdam criteria, Of 570 members affected by ma lignancy, gastric cancer occurred in 62. Adequate clinical data were o btained for 45 patients. Tumor samples from 24 patients were re-examin ed, The mean age of diagnosis of gastric cancer was 56 years. The aver age percentage of all cancers within a family was 11 (range 0-40). Nin eteen were of the intestinal type, Only 3 were of the diffuse type. He licobacter pylori infection was demonstrated in 3 of 15 cases, Replica tion error (RER) phenotype was present clearly in 7 cases and at least fairly clearly in II. The overall 5-year survival rate was 15%. The 5 -year survival rate was 48% in cases in whom radical surgery had been undertaken, Our results support the view that gastric cancer belongs t o the tumor spectrum of HNPCC, The intestinal type of histology is cha racteristic, as is the RER+ phenotype, but H. pylori infection was rar e. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.