Clinical and pathological characteristics of
scirrhous carcinoma of the stomach were studied in 106 cases treated by
gastrectomy between 1973 and 1983. The male to female ratio was 0.58. The percentage of
scirrhous carcinomas to all gastric
carcinomas resected in the same period was three times higher in females than males. The age distribution of the patients suggested that there were two peaks in the forties and sixties in the male, and in the thirties and fifties in the female. The incidence of
scirrhous carcinoma in all types of gastric
carcinoma was significantly higher in the twenties, thirties and forties compared to the lowest incidence in the seventies. In the female group the primary lesion had a tendency to be adjacent to the fundic gland area and to avoid intestinal
metaplasia. In the male the opposite was recognized.
Cancer nests with single cells or only several cells were common in this type of
carcinoma. These findings suggest that there might be two biologically different
scirrhous carcinomas both in the male and the female, the appearance of single
carcinoma cells might be favored by female
sex hormones and young ages, and not only the original gastric mucosa but also mucosa with intestinal
metaplasia could be precursors of single
carcinoma cells.