[Prognosis of gastric carcinoma sited in the cardiac part determined by the type of esophageal invasion].

A study has been made of type and prognosis of esophageal invasions exhibited by gastric carcinomas sited in the cardiac part of the stomach. Examined were 14 such cases of an adenocarcinoma with an esophageal invasion. Histopathologically, the invasions into the esophagus were classified into 4 types of severity, from 1 to 4, according to the depth of the invasion into the esophago-gastric junction (EGJ) and the pattern of the invasion to the oral side (thoracic side). The prognosis was found to be good for EGJ invasion that had penetrated to the pm and/or sm layer only, whereas it was very bad if the invasion had penetrated the entire EGJ wall (the pm, sm, mp, and the sa) and the infiltrative pattern had reached the oral side (thoracic side). Almost all patients given a type 4 classification soon had a recurrence after surgery and did not live beyond two years. Thus, a close relationship has been noted between the type of invasion into the esophagus and the prognosis.