Objective: To investigate the clinical characteristics and prognostic factors of synchronous gastric adenocarcinoma associated with squamous carcinoma of esophagus (SGCEC).
Methods: From June 1979 to April 2005, 44 patients with SGCEC were treated and the data were retrospectively reviewed. There were 34 male and 10 female. The median age was 65 years old (range from 41 to 77 years old). The clinical features including sex, age, history, T stages and N stages of gastric carcinoma and esophageal carcinoma, curative or palliative resection, chemotherapy or/and radiotherapy were analyzed.
Results: Of all patients, 22.7% (10/44) had family history of carcinoma. Before or in the operations, some gastric carcinomas could not be easily found out, but they were determined in the resected specimens. The cumulative 5-year overall survival rate was 27%, and median survival was 22 months. Univariate analysis and multivariate analysis of prognostic factors identified both lymph node status of gastric carcinoma and curative resection as the predominating independent predictors of long-term survival.
Conclusions: The patients with SGCEC show distinct clinical characteristics. Receiving curative operation and completely resection of gastric lymph nodes may improve the outcomes.