Gagtric Adenocarcinoma with Choriocarcinomatous and Hepatoid Differentiation: Report of a case

ABSTRACT

Association of the hepatoid and choriocarcinomatous components in adenocarcinoma of the stomach is extremely unusual and raises a possibility of new approach understand the histogenesis of gastric hepatoid adenocarcinoma. This paper describes a Borrmann type III adenocarcinoma of the stomach with both choriocarcinomatous and hepatoid components in composite tumor pattern in a 50-year-old man. Tubular arrangement of differentiated embryonalcarcinoma was encountered in choricarcinomatous and hepatoid areas, which showed strong immunoreactivity to beta-HCG and AFP, respectively. The findings suggest that gastric adenocarcinoma may have a potential of differentiation toward embryonal carcinoma. from which both choriocarcinoma and hepatoid variant of gastric adenocarcinoma may develop by retrodifferentiation.