• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.111-114
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• 2016

Herein, we report a 39-year-old female patient presenting with gastric cancer and tuberculous peritonitis. The differential diagnosis between advanced gastric cancer with peritoneal carcinomatosis and early gastric cancer with peritoneal tuberculosis (TB), and the treatment of these two diseases, were challenging in this case. Physicians should have a high index of suspicion for peritoneal TB if the patient has a history of this disease, especially in areas with a high incidence of TB, such as South Korea. An early diagnosis is critical for patient management and prognosis. A surgical approach including tissue biopsy or laparoscopic exploration is recommended to confirm the diagnosis.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.345-354
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• 2020

Early detection of gastric cancer is crucial because the survival rate can be improved through curative treatment. Although surgery and gastrectomy with lymph node dissection remain as the gold standard for curative treatment, early gastric cancer (EGC) with negligible risk of lymph node metastasis can be treated with endoscopic resection (ER), such as endoscopic submucosal dissection. Among gastric cancers, undifferentiated-type cancer is distinguished from differentiated-type cancer in various aspects in terms of clinical features and pathophysiology. The undifferentiated-type cancer is also known to be associated with an aggressive behavior and a poor prognosis. Therefore, the indication of ER for undifferentiated EGC is limited compared with differentiated-type. Recent studies have reported that ER for undifferentiated EGC is safe and shows favorable short- and long-term outcomes. However, it is necessary to understand the details of the research results and to selectively accept them. In this review, we aimed to evaluate the current practice guidelines and the short-term and long-term outcomes of ER for undifferentiated type EGC.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.93-97
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• 2017

An 84-year-old man was diagnosed with two synchronous adenocarcinomas, a Borrmann type IV advanced gastric adenocarcinoma in his antrum and a well-differentiated Borrmann type I carcinoma on the anterior wall of the higher body of his stomach. Pre-operatively, computed tomography of the abdomen revealed the presence of advanced gastric cancer with peri-gastric and para-aortic lymph node (LN) metastasis. He planned for palliative total gastrectomy owing to the risk of obstruction by the antral lesion. We performed a frozen biopsy of a para-aortic LN during surgery and found that the origin of the para-aortic LN metastasis was from undiagnosed prostate cancer. Thus, we performed radical total gastrectomy and D2 LN dissection. Post-operatively, his total prostate-specific antigen levels were high (227 ng/mL) and he was discharged 8 days after surgery without any complications.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.129-135
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• 2013

Gastric cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. In advanced and metastatic gastric cancer, the conventional chemotherapy with limited efficacy shows an overall survival period of about 10 months. Patient specific and effective treatments known as personalized cancer therapy is of significant importance. Advances in high-throughput technologies such as microarray and next generation sequencing for genes, protein expression profiles and oncogenic signaling pathways have reinforced the discovery of treatment targets and personalized treatments. However, there are numerous challenges from cancer target discoveries to practical clinical benefits. Although there is a flood of biomarkers and target agents, only a minority of patients are tested and treated accordingly. Numerous molecular target agents have been under investigation for gastric cancer. Currently, targets for gastric cancer include the epidermal growth factor receptor family, mesenchymal-epithelial transition factor axis, and the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-AKT-mammalian target of rapamycin pathways. Deeper insights of molecular characteristics for gastric cancer has enabled the molecular classification of gastric cancer, the diagnosis of gastric cancer, the prediction of prognosis, the recognition of gastric cancer driver genes, and the discovery of potential therapeutic targets. Not only have we deeper insights for the molecular diversity of gastric cancer, but we have also prospected both affirmative potentials and hurdles to molecular diagnostics. New paradigm of transdisciplinary team science, which is composed of innovative explorations and clinical investigations of oncologists, geneticists, pathologists, biologists, and bio-informaticians, is mandatory to recognize personalized target therapy.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.55-62
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• 2010

Purpose: We evaluated the clinicopathological charicterics and prognostic impacts of lymphatic vessel invasion in gastric cancer without lymph node involvement. Materials and Methods: Among 1,795 patients who underwent gastric surgery with gastric cancer at the department of surgery, Hanyang university college of medicine from June 1992 to March 2009, we retrospectively evaluated 890 patients with lymph node negative gastric cancer. Results: The lymphatic vessel invasion correlated significantly with tumor stage, age, tumor size, perineural invasion and operation method. The survival rates were only significantly different between the patients with and without lymphatic vessel invasion in patients with stage Ia (P=0.036). Univariate and multivariate analysis demonstrated that blood vessel invasion and preoperative serum CEA level were significant factor influencing the survival rate in lymph node negative gastric cancer patients with lymphatic invasion. Conclusions: In patients with lymph node negative gastric cancer, the survival rate is significantly lower in those with lymphatic vessel invasion than in those without. Especially, in patients with stage Ia gastric cancer, the survival rates is significantly different between those with and those without lymphatic vessel invasion. Blood vessel invasion and preoperative serum CEA level is an adverse prognostic indicator in patients with stage Ia gastric cancer with lymphatic invasion. Thus we should consider further adjuvant therapies in case of need and need to show more concern to identify gastric cancer patients early at risk for recurrence.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.381-394
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• 2022

Purpose: Gastric neoplasia is a common manifestation of familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP). This study aimed to elucidate the clinical characteristics, endoscopic features including fundic gland polyposis (FGPsis), and treatment outcomes of gastric neoplasms (GNs) in patients with FAP. Materials and Methods: A total of 35 patients diagnosed with FAP, including nine patients from four pedigrees who underwent esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD), were investigated regarding patient characteristics, GN morphology, and treatment outcomes. Results: Twenty-one patients (60.0%) had 38 GNs; 33 (86.8%) and 5 (13.2%) were histologically diagnosed with adenocarcinoma and adenoma, respectively. There were no specific patient characteristics related to GNs.Nodule-type GNs were more prevalent in patients with FGP than without (52.2% vs. 0.0%, P=0.002) in the upper body of the stomach. Conversely, depressed-type GNs were fewer in patients with FGPsis than in those without (13.0% vs. 73.3%, P<0.001). Slightly elevated-type GNs were observed in both groups (34.8% vs. 20.0%, P=0.538). Even within pedigrees, the background gastric mucosa and types of GNs varied. In total, 24 GNs were treated with endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) and eight with endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR). EMR was selected for GNs with FGPsis because of the technical difficulty of ESD, resulting in a lower en bloc resection rate (62.5% vs. 100%, P=0.014). Conclusions: Our study indicates the necessity of routine EGD surveillance in patients diagnosed with FAP. Notably, the morphology and location of GNs differed between patients with and without FGPsis. Endoscopic treatment and outcomes require more attention in cases of FGPsis.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.218-221
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• 2015

Gastric metastasis from ovarian carcinoma is extremely rare and the prognosis for patients is poor. We report a case of multimodal treatment improving the survival time of a patient with gastric metastasis from ovarian cancer. A 73-year-old woman with known serous ovarian cancer was admitted to the hospital due to epigastric pain and dyspepsia. On esophagogastroduodenoscopy, a protruding mass was noted at the gastric antrum. She underwent distal gastrectomy with Billroth I anastomosis and lymph node dissection, including the para-aortic lymph nodes. The final pathology revealed gastric metastasis from ovarian serous adenocarcinoma. In this case, after cytoreductive surgery, chemotherapy was performed each time a recurrence was diagnosed, and remission was accomplished. She survived for 108 months after the first diagnosis of the metastatic tumor in the stomach. Multimodal treatment of metastatic lesions since the first diagnosis allowed the patient to survive longer than those in previous reports.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.189-193
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• 2011

The natural course of untreated patients with signet ring cell carcinoma of the stomach remains poorly understood while assumptions have been made to distinguish it from other types of gastric cancer. A 74-year-old Korean woman was diagnosed with early gastric cancer with signet ring cell histology and refused surgery. A satellite lesion was identified 46 months after the initial diagnosis. The patient finally agreed to undergo distal subtotal gastrectomy 53 months following the initial diagnosis. Postoperative histological examination of both lesions confirmed signet ring cell carcinoma associated with submucosal invasion. There was no evidence of lymph node metastasis.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.205-209
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• 2012

In gastric adenocarcinoma, high rates of loco-regional recurrences have been reported even after complete resection, and various studies have been tried to find the role of postoperative adjuvant therapy. Among them, Intergroup 0116 trial was a landmark trial, and demonstrated the definite survival benefit in adjuvant chemoradiotherapy, compared with surgery alone. However, the INT 0116 trial had major limitation for global acceptance of the INT 0116 regimen as an adjuvant treatment modality because of the limited lymph node dissection. Lately, several randomized studies that were performed to patients with D2-dissected gastric cancer were published. This review summarizes the data about patterns of failure after surgical resection and the earlier prospective studies, including INT 0116 study. Author will introduce the latest studies, including ARTIST trial and discuss whether external beam radiotherapy should be applied to patients receiving extended lymph node dissection and adjuvant chemotherapy.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.135-137
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• 2014

Metastasis of gastric adenocarcinoma to the prostate gland is extremely rare. Herein, we report a case of gastric adenocarcinoma in a 56-year-old man with prostatic metastasis diagnosed through the analysis of biopsy specimens from representative lesions in the stomach and prostate gland. Immunohistochemistry of the prostatic tissue showed positive staining for cytokeratin 7 and negative staining for prostate-specific antigen (PSA), whereas the serum PSA level was normal, confirming the diagnosis of prostatic metastasis from carcinoma of the stomach.