Objective: To study correlations between invasion of stomach cancer to serosal layer and such factors as size and type of tumor, depth of ulcer, gastric wall contraction, etc.
Methods: Gastric cancer specimens from 150 patients admitted to the hospital in March 1993 through March 1997 were examined.
Results: The frequency of tumor invasion to the serosa in gastric cancer of Borrmann type I, II, III and IV was 8.3%, 23.4%, 32.9% and 76.2%, respectively. The frequency of serosal involvement was 13.6% in tumors with a diameter < or = 3.0 cm which was significantly less frequent than in tumors with a diameter > 3.0 cm. The frequency of serosal involvement increased with the increase in depth of ulcer and with spastic contraction of gastric wall as observed in pre-operative barium meal examination. That of serosal involvement varied with degree of differentiation of the tumor, being much lower in well- and moderately well-differentiated adenocarcinomas (10.3%) than in poorly differentiated ones (62.8%). The serosa was frequently invaded by mucinous adenocarcinoma (42.9) and signet cell carcinoma (83.3%).
Conclusion: Invasion of gastric cancer to serosal layer correlates, to various extents, with the tumor size and type, status of cell differentiation, and depth of ulcer.