Lauren's and Goseki's grade distribution does not change along with the progression from an early to advanced gastric carcinoma.

It is generally believed that tumor progression is associated with increased cancer cell heterogeneity, poorer differentiation and increased malignant potential. We tested this hypothesis by comparing a group of early and advanced gastric carcinomas. We retrieved from our files 40 cases of early gastric carcinoma and another 40 cases of advanced gastric carcinoma. Routine tumor typing, grading (Lauren and Goseki classifications) and staging was applied. We have shown that the proportion of histological grades in early and advanced gastric carcinoma does not change significantly. In addition, more poorly differentiated carcinomas were present both in early and advanced gastric carcinoma groups. This is in contrast with several other studies. This fact together with overexpression of CD44V5 isoform and fewer cancer cells circulating in the blood of patients suffering from this type of gastric carcinoma might influence the adjuvant therapy strategy. In summary, in the present study we noticed a similar distribution of Lauren's and Goseki's histological grades both in early and advanced gastric carcinoma.