Survival benefit of younger gastric cancer patients in China and the United States: A comparative study.

BACKGROUND: The impact of racial and regional disparity on younger patients with gastric cancer (GC) remains unclear. AIM: To investigate the clinicopathological characteristics, prognostic nomogram, and biological analysis of younger GC patients in China and the United States. METHODS: From 2000 to 2018, GC patients aged less than 40 years were enrolled from the China National Cancer Center and the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results database. Biological analysis was performed based on the Gene Expression Omnibus database. Survival analysis was conducted via Kaplan-Meier estimates and Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS: A total of 6098 younger GC patients were selected from 2000 to 2018, of which 1159 were enrolled in the China National Cancer Center, and 4939 were collected from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results database. Compared with the United States group, younger patients in China revealed better survival outcomes (P < 0.01). For race/ethnicity, younger Chinese cases also enjoyed a better prognosis than that in White and Black datasets (P < 0.01). After stratification by pathological Tumor-Node-Metastasis (pTNM) stage, a survival advantage was observed in China with pathological stage I, III, and IV (all P < 0.01), whereas younger GC patients with stage II showed no difference (P = 0.16). In multivariate analysis, predictors in China involved period of diagnosis, linitis plastica, and pTNM stage, while race, diagnostic period, sex, location, differentiation, linitis plastica, signet ring cell, pTNM stage, surgery, and chemotherapy were confirmed in the United States group. Prognostic nomograms for younger patients were established, with the area under the curve of 0.786 in the China group and of 0.842 in the United States group. Moreover, three gene expression profiles (GSE27342, GSE51105, and GSE38749) were enrolled in further biological analysis, and distinctive molecular characteristics were identified in younger GC patients among different regions. CONCLUSION: Except for younger cases with pTNM stage II, a survival advantage was observed in the China group with pathological stage I, III, and IV compared to the United States group, which might be partly due to differences in surgical approaches and the improvement of the cancer screening in China. The nomogram model provided an insightful and applicable tool to evaluate the prognosis of younger patients in China and the United States. Furthermore, biological analysis of younger patients was performed among different regions, which might partly explain the histopathological behavior and survival disparity in the subpopulations.

Analysis of genomic and immune intratumor heterogeneity in linitis plastica via multiregional exome and T-cell receptor sequencing.

The molecular landscape and the intratumor heterogeneity (ITH) architecture of gastric linitis plastica (LP) are poorly understood. We performed whole-exome sequencing (WES) and T-cell receptor (TCR) sequencing on 40 tumor regions from four LP patients. The landscape and ITH at the genomic and immunological levels in LP tumors were compared with multiple cancers that have previously been reported. The lymphocyte infiltration was further assessed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in LP tumors. In total, we identified 6339 non-silent mutations from multi-samples, with a median tumor mutation burden (TMB) of 3.30 mutations per Mb, comparable to gastric adenocarcinoma from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cohort (P = 0.53). An extremely high level of genomic ITH was observed, with only 12.42%, 5.37%, 5.35%, and 30.67% of mutations detectable across 10 regions within the same tumors of each patient, respectively. TCR sequencing revealed that TCR clonality was substantially lower in LP than in multi-cancers. IHC using antibodies against CD4, CD8, and PD-L1 demonstrated scant T-cell infiltration in the four LP tumors. Furthermore, profound TCR ITH was observed in all LP tumors, with no T-cell clones shared across tumor regions in any of the patients, while over 94% of T-cell clones were restricted to individual tumor regions. The Morisita overlap index (MOI) ranged from 0.21 to 0.66 among multi-regions within the same tumors, significantly lower than that of lung cancer (P = 0.002). Our results show that LP harbored extremely high genomic and TCR ITH and suppressed T-cell infiltration, suggesting a potential contribution to the frequent recurrence and poor therapeutic response of this adenocarcinoma.

68 Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT and PET/MRI in Rectal Linitis Plastica Secondary to Prostate Adenocarcinoma.

ABSTRACT: Primary or secondary rectal linitis plastica is rare. We describe MRI, 68 Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT, and PET/MRI findings in a case of rectal linitis plastica secondary to prostate adenocarcinoma. In this case, the rectal linitis plastica was the first manifestation of the prostatic adenocarcinoma, and the rectum was the only metastatic site of the prostate adenocarcinoma. The rectal wall showed circumferential thickening with a concentric ring pattern on MRI, and diffuse intense 68 Ga-PSMA-11 uptake on PET/CT and PET/MRI. Familiarity with the imaging findings of rectal linitis plastica secondary to prostate adenocarcinoma may be helpful for recognition of this rare entity.

pCLE detects mucosal neoplastic vascular pattern in gastric linitis plastica.

Linitis plastica (LP) is a very aggressive and rare carcinoma with a scirrhous stroma that affects the submucosal and muscular layers of the stomach even without mucosal alterations. Lack of timely diagnosis is a crucial problem related to its prognosis and treatment. In this study, we investigated the LP-associated vascular pattern as a possible means to improve the diagnosis of these patients. During standard endoscopy, mucosal architecture, tortuosity and enlargement of vessels, as well as the presence of vascular leakage and efficiency of the blood flow were assessed in six LP patients using probe-based Confocal Laser Endomicroscopy (pCLE). In all LP patients, we detected abnormal changes in vasculature. The aberrant features of the vascular network were common to all LP patients examined and consisted of vessel enlargement, tortuosity, and leakage associated with the affected submucosal layer. This is the first study to highlight the presence of marked vascularization associated with LP, characterized by the presence of abnormal and non-functional vessels, similar to what is observed in neoplastic tissues. Therefore, the analysis of LP by pCLE may provide a new endoscopic approach and strategy to better define these patients.

[Chronic ischemic gastropathy as a simulator of plastic linitis]. / Gastropatía isquémica crónica como simuladora de linitis plástica.

Chronic ischemic gastropathy is a rare entity, being the atheroesclerotic vascular the most prevalent cause. Clinical and endoscopic manifestations are unspecific and may simulate more frequent pathologies. Cardiovascular risk factors allow us to diagnose and treat these patients earlier. We present the case of a patient with chronic ischemic gastropathy that manifested abdominal pain, weight loss and endoscopic findings as a simulator of linitis plastica. The diagnosis was made with an endoscopic block biopsy after two inconclusive biopsies.

La gastropatía isquémica es una entidad rara, cuya etiología más frecuente es la obstrucción al flujo sanguíneo secundaria a aterosclerosis. Sus manifestaciones clínicas y endoscópicas son inespecíficas, pudiendo simular afecciones más prevalentes. La sospecha clínica en pacientes con factores de riesgo cardiovascular permite un diagnóstico precoz y tratamiento adecuado. Presentamos el caso de una paciente con gastropatía isquémica crónica que se manifestó con dolor abdominal, pérdida de peso y hallazgos endoscópicos compatibles con linitis plástica. Se arribó al diagnóstico con una biopsia endoscópica en bloque luego de haber obtenido dos biopsias previas no concluyentes.

Emlorák hasüregi áttétei - Egy szokatlan entitás klinikopatológiai jellemzoi.

Case report: A sixty-five-year-old female patient underwent surgery for severe gastrointestinal symptoms, following an alarming CT image. Laparotomy revealed irresectable gastric cancer and peritoneal carcinosis. Palliative gastro-jejunostomy and ileo-descendostomy were performed. The endoscopic diagnosis - linitis plastica - and the intraoperative macroscopic appearance matched and agreed on the histologically presumed shigillocellular carcinoma. Three years following the initial abdominal symptoms, histological samples taken from newly detected cutaneous metastases which developed during oncological palliative treatment verified occult lobular breast carcinoma. Histological revision of the sample taken from abdominal exploration confirmed the latter diagnosis. The hormone receptor positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 negative malignancy showed very good regression for the palliative hormone treatment. Discussion: About ten percent of breast cancer cases are lobular carcinomas, which are more often multicentric, bilateral, occult and have a propensity to metastasize to serous membranes, abdominal and pelvic viscera. Due to the increasing survival of breast cancer patients, the number of abdominal metastases of breast cancer is expected to increase. Histological confirmation is indispensable even in case of advanced abdominal malignancies, especially in the case of an unusual medical history. The currently rare case demonstrates the need for multidisciplinary cooperation in all diagnostic and therapeutic fields of breast cancer.

Rectal linitis plastica as the first presentation of metastatic lobular breast cancer: an endoscopic ultrasound diagnosis.

Gastrointestinal tract is an uncommon site of breast cancer metastasis. Rectal linitis plastica (RLP) is a rare presentation of rectal neoplasia, both primary and secondary, and refers to a diffuse infiltration of the wall by an infiltrating carcinoma. Diagnostic assessment of RLP may be challenging since cross-sectional imaging and endoscopic findings may be nonspecific, and endoscopic biopsies are frequently non-diagnostic due to the submucosal disease localization. Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) with fine needle biopsy (FNB) is widely used for the diagnostic assessment of sub-epithelial lesions of upper and lower gastrointestinal tract. However, data about the use of EUS in case of rectal linitis plastica are very poor. We present a case of rectal metastasis as the first presentation of lobular breast cancer, presenting as rectal linitis plastica and diagnosed with EUS-FNB.

Endoscopic ultrasound guided fine needle biopsy in patients with suspected gastric linitis plastica.

BACKGROUND: Gastric linitis plastica (GLP) is a diffuse infiltrating type of gastric adenocarcinoma. It is associated with a poor prognosis and a five-year survival of 3-10%. The infiltrating profile of this tumor explains the low yield of the superficial mucosal biospies. The objective of this study was to investigate the role of endoscopic ultrasound-fine needle biopsy (EUS-FNB) in the diagnosis of GLP. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis including all patients who had an EUS-FNB, at a tertiary referral center, over the last 3 years. The primary outcome was the sensitivity of EUS-FNB in patients with suspected GLP. RESULTS: Between January 2017 and December 2020, 34 patients had an EUS-FNB for suspected GLP. Ten patients had a diagnostic of GLP. This diagnosis was obtained by EUS-FNB in 90% (9/10) of the cases. Eight patients had at least one previous esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) with negative mucosal biopsies. Gastric EUS-FNB helped diagnose other serious conditions in 47% (16/34) of cases with inconclusive mucosal biopsies. CONCLUSION: Gastric EUS-FNB in patients with suspected GLP and normal endoscopic mucosal biopsies may lead to a positive diagnosis of GLP in 90% of cases without notable adverse events. This technique should be considered as a second step in the setting of suspicion of GLP after inconclusive mucosal biopsies.

Metastatic invasive lobular breast cancer presenting as linitis plastica of the colon: Tumour characterization using [18 F]FES PET/MRI.

Metastatic invasive lobular breast cancer (ILC) to the colon is rare and usually ER-positive. We present an ER-negative case of metastatic ILC presenting as linitis plastica of the colon where [18 F]FES PET/MRI allowed the evaluation of the ER phenotypic transformation in the colonic metastasis from the ER-positive breast ILC in vivo.

Linitis Plastica: a Distinct Type of Gastric Cancer.

BACKGROUND: The prognosis of patients with linitis plastica (LP) gastric cancer is reported to be poor. The purpose of our retrospective study was to characterize the clinicopathologic features and survival outcomes of patients with LP, using a univocal definition. METHODS: We defined LP as gastric cancer that involves more than 1/3 of the gastric wall macroscopically. We reviewed a prospectively maintained institutional database of gastric cancer patients and summarized and compared clinicopathologic factors of patients with and without LP who had undergone gastrectomy. Patients were matched 1:1 using propensity score matching, and their overall survival (OS) rates and durations were compared. Multivariable Cox regression analyses were conducted, using gastrectomy as a time-varying covariate. RESULTS: We identified 740 patients with radiographically non-metastatic gastric cancer, 157 (21.2%) of whom had LP. Most patients with LP had advanced-stage disease (75.8% had stage IV disease, mainly due to peritoneal involvement). Patients with LP had significantly shorter OS durations than did those without LP in the entire cohort (median OS, 14.0 vs. 33.5 months; p value < 0.001) and in the surgical cohort (median OS after gastrectomy, 21.8 vs. 91.0 months; p < 0.001), as well as in the propensity-matched surgical cohort. In the LP cohort, chemotherapy (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.594; p = 0.076), chemoradiation therapy (HR = 0.346; p = 0.001), and gastrectomy (HR = 0.425; p = 0.003) were associated with a longer OS. CONCLUSIONS: LP is a phenotype of gastric cancer that often presents at an advanced stage, with a high rate of peritoneal involvement. The survival durations of patients with LP were poor in our study, even in the surgical cohort. The use of preoperative chemotherapy, chemoradiation therapy, and gastrectomy appeared to be important in carefully selected patients with localized LP.

Linitis plástica de colon secundaria a metástasis de carcinoma lobulillar infiltrante de mama / Linitis plastica of the colon due to metastases of invasive lobular breast carcinoma

Las metástasis colónicas secundarias a neoplasia de mama son infrecuentes. El subtipo lobulillar infiltrante es el que suele metastatizar con mayor frecuencia debido a su diseminación peritoneal. Se presenta el caso clínico de una mujer de 67 años intervenida quirúrgicamente con posterior radioterapia y quimioterapia adyuvante de neoplasia de mama subtipo lobulillar hace diez años. La paciente se encuentra actualmente en remisión clínica. Se le realiza colonoscopia debido a síndrome general de reciente comienzo con hallazgos compatibles con linitis plástica colónica secundaria a infiltración por células neoplásicas de carcinoma lobulillar infiltrante (CLI) de mama. En conclusión, la linitis plástica colónica puede ser una nueva forma de presentación de las metástasis colónicas secundarias a CLI de mama

Colon metastases from breast carcinoma are relatively rare and the invasive lobular subtype tends to metastasize more frequently due to its peritoneal dissemination. A 67-year-old female with a lobular subtype breast neoplasm was treated via a surgical resection ten years previously, with subsequent radiotherapy and adjuvant chemotherapy. She is currently in clinical remission. A colonoscopy was performed due to a recent onset cachexia syndrome, which identified diffuse linitis plastica of the colon. Biopsies confirmed that it was secondary to infiltration by cancer cells of invasive lobular breast carcinoma (ILBC). In conclusion, linitis plastica of the colon may be a new presentation of colon metastases from ILBC

Linitis plastica of the colon due to metastases of invasive lobular breast carcinoma.

Colon metastases from breast carcinoma are relatively rare and the invasive lobular subtype tends to metastasize more frequently due to its peritoneal dissemination. A 67-year-old female with a lobular subtype breast neoplasm was treated via a surgical resection ten years previously, with subsequent radiotherapy and adjuvant chemotherapy. She is currently in clinical remission. A colonoscopy was performed due to a recent onset cachexia syndrome, which identified diffuse linitis plastica of the colon. Biopsies confirmed that it was secondary to infiltration by cancer cells of invasive lobular breast carcinoma (ILBC). In conclusion, linitis plastica of the colon may be a new presentation of colon metastases from ILBC.

Gastric Metastasis Mimicking Linitis Plastica 20 Years after Primary Breast Cancer. A Case Report.

Breast cancer metastases to the gastrointestinal tract are rare, with a median time interval from the diagnosis of the primary tumor to metastasis up to 7 years. The stomach is the most frequent metastatic site and invasive lobular carcinoma is the type with the highest affinity to the digestive system. We report the case of an 84-year-old female patient, with a past medical history 20 years earlier of invasive lobular carcinoma of the breast, who presented for dyspepsia. Upper endoscopy revealed hypertrophic gastric folds compatible with primary linitis plastica. Histology showed proliferation of malignant poorly cohesive cells. Immunohistochemistry stain showed intense positivity of estrogen receptors and anti-GATA-binding protein 3 nuclear antibodies, and absence of the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2. These findings confirmed the diagnosis of a metachronous metastasis of the invasive lobular breast adenocarcinoma. Considering metastases from breast cancer is crucial when patients with any subtle gastric symptom and a past medical history of invasive lobular adenocarcinoma of the breast seek medical advice, even though more than 20 years after primary breast cancer. Immunohistochemistry is the key to final diagnosis as these lesions can endoscopically and histologically mimic primary linitis plastica.