THE HISTOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION OF EARLY GASTRIC CANCER (MICRO‐INVASIVE CARCINOMA OF THE STOMACH)

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Abstract
During a 3.5-yr period, 11 cases of micro-invasive carcinoma of the stomach (early gastric cancer) were detected in 45 gastrectomy specimens having a pre-operative diagnosis of gastric carcinoma. The histological types found in the surgical specimens were highly differentiated (1), moderately differentiated (4), poorly differentiated (3) adenocarcinomas, 1 specimen had undifferentiated carcinoma, and in the remaining 2 cases mixed types were found. Multiple lesions were present in 5 specimens. In 10 of the 11 specimens, focal cystic dilatation of the deeper part of the gastric glands were found in areas overlapped by micro-invasive carcinoma and/or in areas overlapped by mucosa showing chronic inflammation. The frequency of cystic dilatation of the gastric gland was much lower in specimens from patients with gastric or duodenal peptic ulcers. Focal cystic dilatation present in negative gastric biopsies should be reported, alerting the referring physician as to the possibility of a gastric malignancy.