Table 2.
Association of morphologically signet ring cell-equivalent tumor budding and lymph node metastasis in early gastric cancer with signet ring cell component and undifferentiated-type dominant. There are no associations with lymph node metastasis; therefore, excluding signet ring cell is necessary.
| Clinicopathologic Variable | Category | In EGC with SRC Component | p | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Absence of LNM n = 82 (77.4%) |
Presence of LNM n = 24 (22.6%) |
|||
| TB-YN, equivalent SRC | Absent | 49 (71.0%) | 20 (29.0%) | 0.050 |
| Present | 33 (89.2%) | 4 (10.8%) | ||
| TB-ITBCC, equivalent SRC | Low grade (Bd1) | 53 (72.6%) | 20 (27.4%) | 0.131 |
| High grade (Bd2, 3) | 29 (87.9%) | 4 (12.1%) | ||
| total-TB, equivalent SRC | <5 * | 50 (71.4%) | 20 (28.6%) | 0.051 |
| ≥5 * | 32 (88.9%) | 4 (11.1%) | ||
| In Undifferentiated-Type Dominant EGC † | ||||
|
Absence of LNM
n = 85 (75.2%) |
Presence of LNM
n = 28 (24.8%) |
|||
| TB-YN, equivalent SRC | Absent | 53 (68.8%) | 24 (31.2%) | 0.034 |
| Present | 32 (88.9%) | 4 (11.1%) | ||
| TB-ITBCC, equivalent SRC | Low grade (Bd1) | 55 (69.6%) | 24 (30.4%) | 0.056 |
| High grade (Bd2, 3) | 30 (88.2%) | 4 (11.8%) | ||
| total-TB, equivalent SRC | <5 * | 54 (69.2%) | 24 (30.8%) | 0.034 |
| ≥5 * | 31 (88.6%) | 4 (11.4%) | ||
EGC, early gastric carcinoma; SRC, signet ring cell; LNM, lymph node metastasis; 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. * Cutoff values of age and total-TB were determined as where the sum of sensitivity and specificity was maximized. † According to the Japanese gastric cancer treatment guidelines 2018 [1]. p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. All variables were compared by Fisher’s exact test.