ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: It is well known that big differences in clinicopathologic characteristics and prognosis exist between oriental and western gastric cancer patients. Howevers, few direct comparisons of the two groups have ever been made or reported. Thus, we directly investigated the difference of clinicopathologic characteristics between Korean and Germany gastric cancer patients. METHODS: All resected gastric cancer patients at Korea University Guro Hospital and Technische Universitat Munchen from 1983 to 1990 were enrolled in this study. Their clinicopathologic characteristics were compared retrospectively on the basis of medical records. RESULTS: The mean age of Koreans was 53.3+/-11.6 years, and that of Germans was 62.6+/-11.5 years (P<0.001). The proportion of early gastric cancer patient was not significant (19% vs 16.2%). The tumor was located at the lower 1/3 in 51.4% of Koreans, but in the upper 1/3 in 40.6% of Germans (P<0.001). Larger tumor size, extended lymph node and distant metastasis, and eventual advanced stages were prominant findings among the Germans (P<0.001), and signet ring cell carcinoma was the predominant histologic subtype (46.6%). A distal subtotal gastrectomy was the commonly employed operative procedure in Korea (76.8%), but a total gastrectomy was more favored in Germany (72.9%) (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: Korean gastric cancer patients were younger, and their tumors were more distally located and less advanced in stage. In addition, they had fewer signet ring cell carcinomas. Howevers, prospective studies comparingthe prognoses are warranted to explore the differences between oriental and western gastric cancer patients.