Clinicopathological Properties of the Superficial Spreading Type Early Gastric Cancer

We investigated differences in characteristics between the superficial spreading type early gastric cancer (EGC) characterized by a wide and superficial extension and the common type EGC. Between 1982 and 2008, we retrospectively reviewed clinical reports of patients with the EGC treated at Kochi Medical School. Sixty-one patients (9.6%) out of 646 patients had the superficial spreading type EGC. The occurrences of diffuse type histology and lymph node metastasis were significantly greater in the superficial spreading type than in the common type. The incidence of EGC confined to the mucosa was significantly greater in the lymph node-positive superficial spreading type than in the lymph node-positive common type. In patients with the superficial spreading type EGC, lymph node metastasis was more prominent regardless of the degree of tumor invasion. Therefore, appropriate extensive lymph node dissection and wide surgical resection are required for the curative resection of the superficial spreading type EGC.