Abstract
BACKGROUND/AIMS: This study examined the clinical features and prognosis of patients with mucinous gastric carcinoma (MGC), non-mucinous gastric carcinoma (NMGC), and signet ring cell gastric carcinoma (SRC). METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was performed, enrolling 65 patients with MGC from January 2007 to December 2016. During the same period, 1,814 patients with histologically proven gastric cancers underwent curative or palliative operations. One hundred and ninety-five NMGC patients were selected as the 1:3 age- and sex-matched control groups. In addition, 200 SRC patients were identified. This study evaluated the demographic features of the patients, pathologic features of the tumor, and the predictive factors, such as the recurrence-free survival and overall survival. RESULTS: The recurrence rates were significantly high in MGC than in NMGC or SRC (both p<0.01). The proportion of early gastric cancer was lower in the MGC group than in the other groups (p<0.01). In addition, metastatic lymph nodes were found more frequently in the MGC group (p<0.01), and the proportion of initial pT4, M1 stage, was highest in the MGC group. The recurrence-free survival and overall survival in the MGC group were significantly lower than those in the NMGC or SRC. Subgroup analysis showed that patients with the same American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage of each cancer group showed a similar prognosis. CONCLUSIONS: MGC frequently presents an advanced stage with an unfavorable prognosis compared to NMGC or SRC. On the other hand, MGC of the same AJCC stage had a similar prognosis to NMGC and SRC.