The lymph-node metastasis characteristics of patients younger than 40 years with gastric carcinoma

Objective To discuss the lymph-node metastasis features of patients younger than 40 years with gastric carcinoma and try to explain the relationship between their prognosis and age.Methods We reviewed the pathologic data of 159 patients with gastric carcinoma from January 1988 to December 2008.The patients were divided into the young(age≤40 years)group(n=31)and the old(age40 years)group(n=128).The pathological characteristics were compared between the two groups.Results Twenty-six patients(83.9 %)had lymph-node metastasis in young patient group,and 80 patients(62.5 %)had lymph-node metastasis in old group.There was significant difference in the number of lymph-node metastasis,the ratio of lymph-node metastasis and the lymph-node metastasis rate in N2,N3 stage between ≤40 years group and 40 years group.The median survival time of young and elderly patients was 27 months and 33 months respectively(P0.05).The median survival time of young and elderly patients after radical resection was 34 months and 36 months respectively with the difference being not significant(P0.05).Conclusion The pathological characteristics of young patients with gastric carcinoma were identified:the more number of lymph-node metastasis and the higher ratio of lymph-node metastasis were strongly correlated with poor prognosis.Earlier diagnosis and standard D2,D3 lymph-node dissection are keys to improve the prognosis.