Clinical diagnosis and treatment of gastric cancer accompanying neuroendocrine cell differentiation and its prognosis

Objective To compare the clinical and pathological characteristics of gastric cancer patients accompanying or not accompanying neuroendocrine cell differentiation（NED） and their prognosis. Methods Clinical data about 174 gastric cancer patients were retrospectively analyzed.Expression of neuroendocrine markers,CgA,Syn and NSE,in gastric cancer tissue was detected by immunohistochemistry. Results Of the 174 gastric cancer patients,37（21.3%） were diagnosed with NED.Tumor location,infiltration depth,TNM stage and distant metastasis were significantly related with NED.The 1-and 3-year survival rates were significantly lower in gastric cancer patients accompanying NED than in those not accompanying NED（43% vs 58%,23% vs 44%,χ²=4.359,P=0.037）. Conclusion The survival time is shorter and the prognosis is poorer in gastric cancer patients accompanying NED than in those not accompanying NED after operation.Gastric cancer accompanying NED may be one of the important factors for the poor prognosis of gastric cancer patients.