Table 2. Clinicopathological characteristics of patients with stage 4 gastric cancer.
| Characteristics | Non-curative surgery + first-line chemotherapy | First-line chemotherapy only | P |
| No. of patients | 223 | 323 | |
| Age (years, median, range) | 55(23–84) | 55(19–84) | 0.928 |
| <70 year | 205(91.5) | 298(92.3) | 0.856 |
| ≥70 year | 19(8.5) | 25(7.7) | |
| Sex, n | 0.378 | ||
| Men | 149(66.5) | 203 (62.8) | |
| Women | 75 (33.5) | 120 (37.2) | |
| Charlson score | 0.354 | ||
| 0 | 4(1.8) | 4( 1.1) | |
| 1 | 215(96.4) | 300 (93) | |
| 2 | 4(1.8) | 19 (5.9) | |
| Tumor location | 0.208 | ||
| Proximal | 146 (65.2) | 227 (70.3) | |
| Distal | 78 (34.8) | 96 (29.7) | |
| Histological grade | 0.273 | ||
| High-differentiation | 5(2.2) | 7(2.2) | |
| Median-differentiation | 33(14.7) | 49(15.2) | |
| Low-differentiation | 132(58.9) | 211(65.3) | |
| Poor-differentiation | 54(24.1) | 56(17.3) | |
| Gloss type | 0.130 | ||
| Protrusion | 56 (25.0) | 89 (27.6) | |
| Ulcer | 123(54.9) | 190 (58.8) | |
| Infiltration | 45 (20.1) | 44 (13.6) | |
| Size | 0.284 | ||
| <5 cm | 120(53.6) | 158(48.9) | |
| ≥5 cm | 104(46.4) | 165(51.1) | |
| Serum CEA(ng/ml, median, range) | 2.6(0.2–566.5) | 3.6(0.3–7617.0) | 0.021 |
| Serum CA19-9(U/ml, median, range) | 14.3(0.6–12210.0) | 28.1(0.6–20000.0) | 0.000 |
| Serum CA72-4(U/ml, median, range) | 3.5(0.6–1298.0) | 7.8(0.7–1425.0) | 0.001 |
| Hemoglobin(g/l, median, range) | 118.0(78–164) | 122.6(83–162) | 0.166 |
| Albumin(g/l, median, range) | 38.3(24.9–49.0) | 38.3(17.3–54.0) | 0.879 |
| ALT(U/L, median, range) | 16.7(3.4–87.0) | 15.9(0.9–88.3) | 0.724 |
| AST(U/L, median, range) | 19.4(10.5–90.9) | 20.2(6.1–93.3) | 0.158 |
| Tbil(mmol/l, median, range) | 8.8(2.8–27.2) | 9.5(2.6–29) | 0.377 |
| Ascites | 0.001 | ||
| Yes | 17(7.6) | 55(17.0) | |
| No | 206(92.4) | 268(83.0) | |
| Second-line chemotherapy | 0.079 | ||
| Yes | 83(37.1) | 144(44.6) | |
| No | 141(62.9) | 179(55.4) |
Abbreviations: Stage 4, including metastatic and recurrent gastric cancer; CEA, baseline carcinoembryonic antigen; CA19-9, baseline carbohydrate antigen 19-9; CA72-4, baseline carbohydrate antigen 72-4; ALT, baseline alanine aminotransferase; AST, baseline aspartate aminotransferase; Tbil, baseline total bilirubin.