Early Gastric Cancer - Endoscopy (3 of 21)

As proposed by the Japanese Society of Gastroenterological Endoscopy in 1962, early gastric cancer (EGC, also called superficial spreading carcinoma) is defined as adenocarcinoma limited to the gastric mucosa and submucosa regardless of whether regional lymph nodes are involved or not. This definition reflected an appreciation that EGC represented a subset of gastric cancers that had a favorable prognosis. Survival rates of 85 to more than 90 percent five years after resection have been reported in Japan and the West. In one series from Europe, for example, survival was similar for EGC and benign gastric ulcer and no patients died of disseminated disease. In comparison, five-year survival without surgery was only 64.5 percent in one series from Japan due to progression to invasive disease. These values are still better than the 15 to 44 percent five-year survival with advanced gastric cancer, indicating the EGC may be an earlier stage of disease with a long latent period.