Differences in the treatment of young gastric cancer patients: patients under 50 years have better 5-year survival than older patients.

PURPOSE

In the literature, the manifestations of gastric cancer have been described based on all patients. In recent times, interest has focused on the subgroup of young patients. In the following analysis, the subgroup of young patients (< 50y) is compared with an older reference group (≥ 50y).

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Between 01.01.1995 and 31.12.2005, 482 patients with a previously untreated gastric cancer underwent surgery. Fifty-six patients in this group were under 50 years of age, and the remaining 367 patients constituted the reference group. All data were recorded prospectively and analyzed retrospectively from the clinical cancer registry of the University of Erlangen.

RESULTS

The analysis showed that the young patients had a similar tumor stage distribution. Diffuse tumor stages in the Laurén classification occurred significantly more often. The postoperative complication rate was similar, but the hospital mortality rate was significantly lower. The young patients had an obvious, but not significant, 5-year survival advantage in all tumor stages.

CONCLUSIONS

Younger patients can be operated on with greater confidence as they have a significantly lower hospital mortality rate. They exhibit markedly better 5-year survival at all tumor stages. According to our data, there is nothing to support the general belief that young patients have a poorer disease course. Further clinical and experimental studies are necessary to investigate this group more precisely.