Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Our experience of treating undifferentiated gastric carcinoma: report of four cases

  • Case Report
  • Published:
Surgery Today Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Undifferentiated gastric carcinoma is a rare histopathological type of cancer that does not show any differentiation toward adenocarcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma. It is thought to be highly malignant, and is associated with a poor prognosis. However, its clinical behavior has not yet been fully analyzed because of its rarity. We herein review the clinical characteristics and prognoses of patients with undifferentiated gastric carcinoma treated at our institutions. Among 2,651 gastric cancer patients, four (0.2 %) were histopathologically diagnosed to have undifferentiated carcinoma. These four patients included three males and one female. The median age of the patients was 60-year old (range 47–75). Three cases had distant metastases at diagnosis. One of these three cases was treated with chemotherapy alone, and the other two were treated with palliative gastrectomy and chemotherapy. The patient with no distant metastasis underwent curative gastrectomy and adjuvant chemotherapy. All patients died of cancer at a median of 5.4 (range 3.5–7.1) months after their diagnoses.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

References

  1. Japanese Gastric Cancer Association. Japanese classification of gastric carcinoma: 3rd English edition. Gastric Cancer. 2011;14:101–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Lauwers GY, Carneiro F, Graham DY, Curado MP, Franceschi S, Montgomery E, et al. Gastric carcinoma. In: Bosman FT, Carneiro F, Hruban RH, Theise ND, editors. WHO classification of tumours of the digestive system. 4th ed. Lyon: International Agency for Research on Cancer; 2010. p. 48–58.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Terayama H, Masuko Y, Horie T, Koike Y, Ozaki S, Sano S, et al. A case of undifferentiated carcinoma at the stomach with unusual lymphnode metastasis (in Japanese with English abstract). J Sapporo City Gen Hosp. 1990;50:65–8.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Matsuzaka T, Ito K, Makihata T, Matsumoto M, Kubokawa M, Kubo H, et al. A case of gastric undifferentiated carcinoma (in Japanese). Jpn J Clin Exp Med. 2001;78:927–9.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Baba H, Fujiwara N, Nakamura H, Tanaka K, Kuwabara H, Tamai S, et al. Adjuvant Chemotherapy of S-1 and CDDP for undifferentiated adenocarcinoma of the stomach (in Japanese with English abstract). Jpn J Cancer Chemother. 2008;35:2051–3.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Takami K, Miura K, Kobayashi T, Moriya T, Shibata C, Kinouchi M, et al. Undifferentiated gastric cancer confirmed by detailed pathological studies. Report of a case (in Japanese with English abstract). Jpn J Gastroenterol Surg. 2008;41:52–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Matsuzaki H, Ikeda K, Takaki M, Liu M. A case of undifferentiated gastric cancer (in Japanese with English abstract). J Jpn Surg Assoc. 2008;69:810–4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Takashima T, Tayama Y, Inoue K, Hirata K. A case of undifferentiated gastric cancer (in Japanese). Surgery. 2010;72:884–6.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Ueda K, Yamazoe S, Kawazoe Y, Iwasaki Y, Naka T, Yamaue H, et al. Perforated undifferentiated gastric cancer with metastatic small intestinal tumors: a case report (in Japanese with English abstract). J Abdom Emerg Med. 2010;30:937–40.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Yamamoto M, Kobayashi Y, Ochiai M, Terasawa H, Mizumoto Y, Tsubota Y. A rapidly progressed case of undifferentiated gastric cancer (in Japanese with English abstract). J Jpn Surg Assoc. 2012;73:2847–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Endo S, Miyazaki S, Dousei T, Yamada T, Okuyama M, Fukuchi N, et al. A case of gastric carcinoma that metastasized to the skin and inguinal lymph nodes 7 and 13 many years after gastrectomy (in Japanese with English abstract). Jpn J Gastroenterol Surg. 2013;46:159–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Tanaka S, Hirata M, Suzuki T, Tsuda T, Inoue K, Teshima H, et al. A case of scirrhous type gastric cancer with skin metastasis which preceded origin cancer diagnosis (in Japanese). J Hiroshima Med Assoc. 1990;43:1884–9.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Japanese Gastric Cancer Association. Japanese gastric cancer treatment guidelines 2010 (ver. 3). Gastric Cancer. 2011;14:113–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Dr. Hiroyuki Matsuzaki from the Department of Surgery, Shonan Central Hospital and Dr. Takeshi Takashima from the Department of Surgery, Kuriyama Red Cross Hospital, who investigated the outcomes of the patients in the previously published case reports.

Conflict of interest

Shunji Endo and co-authors have no conflicts of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Higashiosaka City General Hospital, 3-4-5 Nishiiwata, Higashiosaka, Osaka, 578-8588, Japan

    Shunji Endo, Terumasa Yamada, Tomo Nakagawa & Junichi Nishijima

  2. Department of Surgery, Osaka General Medical Center, Osaka, Osaka, Japan

    Kazuhiro Nishikawa

  3. Department of Pathology, Osaka General Medical Center, Osaka, Osaka, Japan

    Hiroaki Fushimi

  4. Department of Clinical Pathology, Higashiosaka City General Hospital, Higashiosaka, Osaka, Japan

    Tsuyoshi Chihara & Amane Yamauchi

Authors
  1. Shunji Endo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kazuhiro Nishikawa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Terumasa Yamada
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Tomo Nakagawa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Hiroaki Fushimi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Tsuyoshi Chihara
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Amane Yamauchi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Junichi Nishijima
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shunji Endo.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Endo, S., Nishikawa, K., Yamada, T. et al. Our experience of treating undifferentiated gastric carcinoma: report of four cases. Surg Today 45, 235–240 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00595-013-0793-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00595-013-0793-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation