The prognostic VALUE of Ki-67 in gastric cancer.

e15172 Background: Gastric carcinoma is the second cause of cancer mortality worldwide. In Portugal, a country with a high incidence of the disease, it is also the second leading cause of cancer mortality. The gravity of this situation and the advanced stage of disease at presentation warrants a search of a new prognostic indicator. We studied in patients (pts) with gastric cancer, both diffuse and intestinal types, several possible prognostic indicators, such as: weight, nutrition status, Ki-67, p53, Cerb2, and cadherin E. The results showed that Ki-67, an indicator of cell proliferation, may play an important role as a prognostic indicator because it is easily assessed by immunohistochemistry, is observed in both intestinal and in diffuse tumor types, and is related with tumor size, depth of invasion and the pattern of lymphatic spread. Methods: A total of 50 pts with gastric carcinoma (25 diffuse and 25 intestinal types) undergoing radical gastrectomy with extended lymphadenectomy (D2 and a few D3 type...