Risk factors for depth of infiltration in the differentiated depressed early gastric carcinoma: a preliminary analysis

BACKGROUND To analyze the clinicopathologic factors associated with mucosal and submucosal infiltration in differentiated depressed early gastric cancer, and screening factors that can predict depth of infiltration before endoscopic treatment. METHODS The study included 35 cases of mucosal carcinomas and 66 cases of submucosal carcinomas according to the pathological diagnosis. The relevant clinicopathologic factors were investigated by univariate and multivariate analysis. RESULTS The average depth of the depressed lesions for the submucosal group was significantly more than that for the mucosal group. The proportion of the lesions with rough bottom surface and abnormal surrounding folds was significantly higher in the submucosal group compared to that in the mucosal group. Logistic regression analysis indicated that the above-mentioned three factors were independent risk factors that could be used to predict mucosal and submucosal infiltration. Area under the curve (AUC) of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) of the ordinal above-mentioned three factors for predicting submucosal infiltration was 0.716, 0.663, 0.704, respectively. Stratified analysis showed that the 100% cases with lesion depth ≥ 2.5 mm and rough bottom surface developed submucosal infiltration regardless of the morphological changes of the folds. CONCLUSION The study identified independent risk factors for predicting mucosal and submucosal infiltration in depressed differentiated early gastric cancer, which may evaluate the degree of penetration before endoscopic treatment. VIRTUAL SLIDES The virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/13000_2014_206.