Correlation of Computed Tomography Findings in Gastric Carcinoma with Surgical and Pathological TNM Stage

Abstract

The purpose of our study was to assess the value of CT in the preoperative staging of 40 patients with gastric cancer and correlate the CT findings with surgical and pathological findings. The average age was 63.3 years (35–76 years). There was a predominance of males (24 cases) over females (16 cases). The CT results are grouped according to the stages described in the literature. All tumors were adenocarcinomas; once the surgical and pathological findings were known, we used the p-TNM classification of the International Union Against Cancer. The results from our series were as follows: (1) CT assessment: 13 patients belonged to stage II, 18 to stage III, and 9 to stage IV. There were no stage I cases. (2) Stages according to TNM classification: in our series, there was no stage I case. There were 5 patients belonging to stage II, 8 to stage III-A, 14 to stage III-B and the remaining 13 to stage IV. (3) Correlation between stages based on CT findings and operative procedure used: there is a statistically significant correlation (p < 0.05) between the CT findings and operative procedure used. In conclusion, we believe that CT, if done correctly, is an accurate preoperative staging method in gastric carcinoma.