A REVIEW OF CARCINOMA OF THE STOMACH AT A TERTIARY CARE REFERRAL HOSPITAL

BACKGROUND: Carcinoma of the stomach continues to cause a significant mortality in the United States. We reviewed the characteristics, treat ment modalities, and survival of a group of patients with this cancer at a tertiary care referral hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrosp ective computer based review of all patients with a diagnosis of carci noma of the stomach in the Ohio State University (OSU) tumor registry was made. One hundred ninety-two analytical cases were found and the d ata was entered into a computerized database and analyzed. RESULTS: Th e overall median survival in this series of patients is 10 months with a median survival of 16 months (n.s.) in patients who underwent curat ive surgery (50% of the patients). There was an increased number of ca rdia lesion (37%) predominately in male patients (P < 0.05). A signifi cantly greater number of female patients presented with linitis plasti ca and male patients with adenocarcinoma, although there was no differ ence in the operability, types of operations, and survival between the genders. Patients with signet ring cell cancer were significantly you nger than the other two histological types reviewed but this did not a lter outcome. CONCLUSION: Carcinoma of the stomach, despite newer imag e modalities, continues to present at advanced stages at time of diagn osis with an overall dismal prognosis. The increased incidence of card ia lesions noted require innovative therapies if any progress is to be made.