M1927 Cancer Stem Cells in Human Primary Gastric Cancer: Fact or Fiction?

Prognosis in gastric adenocarcinoma (GAC) and esophageal cancer (EC) is intimately related to cancer stage, and a simple method of predicting GAC and EC stage without invasive testing would be of great utility. We previously reported a study using a cancer registry database to derive a formula for a “staging score” (SS), using various clinical factors to predict GAC and EC stage. The gastric SS formula is (Hemoglobin x Total Protein x Albumin x Body Mass Index) / Age. A score of 50 years of age, the SS was correct in identifying stage in 29/37 of cases (78.4%). There were 17 EC cases of which 6 and 11 cases were early and late EC, respectively. The SS identified 5/6 cases (83.3%) of early EC and 9/11 cases (81.8%) of late EC. Overall, the SS correctly identified stage in 14/17 cases (82.4%) of EC. Conclusion: This study tests a simple SS formula to provide an estimated prognosis for both gastric adenocarcinoma and esophageal cancer in an effort to provide a general prognosis using clinical factors likely to be readily available before pathologic staging or other more expensive and invasive testing is obtained. Although this study was limited by the relatively small number of cases of GAC and EC, the SS may be a useful tool to clinicians and patients as an estimate of cancer stage.