RESUMO
Objective To summarize the clinicopathological characteristics and analyze the prognostic factors of young gastric cancer patients.Methods Data of 1 801 gastric cancer patients (divided into ≤45 years of age group,n =230 cases,and ＞ 45 years old group,n =1 571 cases) undergoing gastrectomy in Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery,Fujian Provincial Cancer Hospital,from June 1999 to November 2015 were retrospectively analyzed.Results Compared with the elderly patients,those ≤45 years old were more female with higher percentage of signet ring cell carcinoma,M1 and non radical resection while less in the upper stomach area (P ＜ 0.05),but there was no statistical difference in tumor size,depth of invasion,lymph node metastasis,Borrmann type,TNM stage,peripheral nerve involvement,cancer embolus,positive margin.Prognostic analysis showed the difference of 5-years survival rate was not statistically significant between young and elderly patients.But the 5-year survival rate in young patients with signet ring cell carcinoma undergoingt radical gastrectomy was better than that of elderly patients (P =0.047,0.038).Multivariate regression analysis showed that M staging and surgical modality were independent prognostic factors for these ≤ 45 years old patients.Conclusion Although there are special clinicopathological features of gastric cancer in young patients,but the postoperative prognosis is relatively the same as those elderly patients.