OBJECTIVETo report the management experiences of of gastric small cell carcinoma.

METHODSThe clinicopathological data of 6 cases of gastric small cell carcinoma treated from 1997 to 2007 were retrospectively reviewed. And meanwhile review the relevant literature.

RESULTSAll the 6 cases were male with an average age of 56.5 years (range, 40-66 years). All the patients received surgery and 4 of them received postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. Two cases were followed up, one lived without recurrence for 4 years all along, the other one died of recurrence and extensive metastasis 9 months after operation. In the literature, 164 male and 59 female patients have been reported to date, with an average age of 64.2 yrs (range, 42-84 years). Tumor located in the fundus in 97 cases, 55 in gastric body,54 in gastric antrum. In gross, 137 cases were classified as ulcerative type, 47 were protruded type. The average tumor diameter was 6.23 cm (range, 0.8-17.0 cm). Among 223 cases, only 43 survived more than 1 year.

CONCLUSIONSIt is difficult to make a definite diagnosis before or during the operation for gastric small cell carcinoma. The radical operation could be done according to other gastric cancer and the lymph node dissection could be simplified. Postoperative chemotherapy with the same scheme as lung small cell carcinoma may help improving the outcome.