Table 1.
Clinicopathological characteristics of all early gastric cancers.
| Clinicopathologic Variable | Category | Absence of LNM n = 231 (79.9%) |
Presence of LNM n = 58 (20.1%) |
p |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lymph node number | n (mean ± SD) | 38.7 ± 17.9 | 37.6 ± 14.1 | 0.646 |
| Age | years old (mean ± SD) | 62.5 ± 10.8 | 65.4 ± 10.4 | 0.066 |
| <62 * | 105 (85.4%) | 18 (14.6%) | 0.047 | |
| ≥62 * | 126 (75.9%) | 40 (24.1%) | ||
| Sex | Male | 152 (79.2%) | 40 (20.8%) | 0.756 |
| Female | 79 (81.4%) | 18 (18.6%) | ||
| Tumor location | Cardia | 10 (83.3%) | 2 (16.7%) | 0.446 |
| Corpus/fundus | 119 (82.6%) | 25 (17.4%) | ||
| Antrum/angle/pylorus | 102 (76.7%) | 31 (23.3%) | ||
| Gross type | I (protruding) | 14 (77.8%) | 4 (22.2%) | 0.691 |
| IIa (flat elevated) | 24 (80.0%) | 6 (20.0%) | ||
| IIb (flat) | 69 (82.1%) | 15 (17.9%) | ||
| IIc (flat depressed) | 106 (80.9%) | 25 (19.1%) | ||
| III (excavated) | 18 (69.2%) | 8 (30.8%) | ||
| Tumor size | mm (mean ± SD) | 23.8 ± 16.6 | 35.6 ± 18.5 | <0.001 |
| Depth of invasion | pT1a | 134 (95.7%) | 6 (4.3%) | <0.001 |
| pT1b | 97 (65.1%) | 52 (34.9%) | ||
| Tumor type | Differentiated † | 146 (83.0%) | 30 (17.0%) | 0.109 |
| Undifferentiated † | 85 (75.2%) | 28 (24.8%) | ||
| Histologic type (WHO) | Tubular | 143 (84.6%) | 26 (15.4%) | <0.001 |
| Papillary | 4 (80.0%) | 1 (20.0%) | ||
| Mucinous | 0 (0%) | 2 (100%) | ||
| SRCC | 47 (94.0%) | 3 (6.0%) | ||
| PCC-NOS | 3 (60.0%) | 2 (40.0%) | ||
| Mixed carcinoma | 34 (58.6%) | 24 (41.4%) | ||
| Lauren classification | Intestinal type | 148 (83.6%) | 29 (16.4%) | <0.001 |
| Diffuse type | 49 (90.7%) | 5 (9.3%) | ||
| Mixed type | 34 (58.6%) | 24 (41.4%) | ||
| Indications of surgery after ER ‡ | Curability A | 82 (97.6%) | 2 (2.4%) | <0.001 |
| Curability B | 25 (100.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | ||
| Curability C | 124 (68.9%) | 56 (31.1%) | ||
| Lymphatic invasion | Absent | 207 (89.2%) | 25 (10.8%) | <0.001 |
| Present | 24 (42.1%) | 33 (57.9%) | ||
| Venous invasion | Absent | 228 (81.4%) | 52 (18.6%) | 0.003 |
| Present | 3 (33.3%) | 6 (66.7%) | ||
| PNC | Absent | 135 (97.1%) | 4 (2.9%) | <0.001 |
| Present | 96 (64.0%) | 54 (36.0%) | ||
| TB-YN | Absent | 123 (99.2%) | 1 (0.8%) | <0.001 |
| Present | 108 (65.5%) | 57 (34.5%) | ||
| TB-ITBCC | Low grade (Bd1) | 168 (97.1%) | 5 (2.9%) | <0.001 |
| High grade (Bd2, 3) | 63 (54.3%) | 53 (45.7%) | ||
| total-TB | <5 * | 165 (98.2%) | 3 (1.8%) | <0.001 |
| ≥5 * | 66 (54.5%) | 55 (45.5%) | ||
| mTB-YN | Absent | 146 (98.7%) | 2 (1.3%) | <0.001 |
| Present | 85 (60.3%) | 56 (39.7%) | ||
| mTB-ITBCC | Low grade (Bd1) | 199 (97.1%) | 6 (2.9%) | <0.001 |
| High grade (Bd2, 3) | 32 (38.1%) | 52 (61.9%) | ||
| total-mTB | <5 * | 199 (98.0%) | 4 (2.0%) | <0.001 |
| ≥5 * | 32 (37.2%) | 54 (62.8%) |
LNM, lymph node metastasis; SRCC, signet ring cell carcinoma; PCC-NOS, poorly cohesive carcinoma not otherwise specified; ER, endoscopic resection; PNC, poorly cohesive carcinoma not otherwise specified predominant cluster; TB-YN, presence or absence of tumor budding; TB-ITBCC, method proposed by International Tumor Budding Consensus Conference; total-TB, total numbers of tumor budding on a whole slide; mTB, modified tumor budding. * Cutoff values of age, total-TB and total-mTB were determined as where the sum of sensitivity and specificity were maximized. † According to the Japanese gastric cancer treatment guidelines 2018, the differentiated type includes papillary adenocarcinoma and well to moderately differentiated tubular adenocarcinoma, and the undifferentiated type includes poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma and PCC (including SRCC) [1]. ‡ This factor is made by combining the variables of tumor size, depth of invasion, ulcer, tumor type without resection margin involvement and lymphatic and venous invasion [1]. p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Continuous variables were compared using Student’s t-test, and nominal variables were compared by the χ2 test or Fisher’s exact test.