PROGNOSTIC FACTORS IN GASTRIC-CANCER - THE VALUE OF VASCULAR INVASION, MITOTIC RATE AND LYMPHOPLASMACYTIC INFILTRATION

A retrospective analysis of 321 gastric cancer patients was made to as sess the prognostic value of TNM classification, tumour differentiatio n, Lauren classification, proliferative rate, inflammatory reaction an d tumour invasion in vascular or neural structures of the gastric wall . The TNM classification showed the strongest correlation with surviva l in univariate and multivariate analyses (P<0.0001). The invasion in lymphatic or vascular system and Lauren classification were also indep endent prognosticators in multivariate analysis (P<0.05). In univariat e analysis, the WHO-grade, the size and the location of the tumour and perinueral invasion were significant prognostic factors (P<0.01), as were the infiltration of lymphocytes and plasma cells in the tumour (P <0.05). On the other hand, the mitotic indices reflecting the prolifer ative activity of the tumour cells showed no significant correlation w ith the prognosis. The results indicate that the prognostic power of t he TNM classification can be further increased by assessment of the ab ove special histological features in gastric cancer.