BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVEThe incidence of adenocarcinoma of the cardia has recently increased. This study compared the clinicopathology and prognosis of patients with gastric cardia adenocarcinoma in different periods between 1984 and 2003.

METHODSA total of 589 patients with pathologically confirmed gastric cardia adenocarcinoma hospitalized in Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center between 1984 and 2003 were divided into 5-year groups. Retrospective analysis of clinical and prognostic characteristics between the different 5-year groups was conducted.

RESULTSThe number of hospitalized patients increased by 134.5%, with an annual increase of 4.6%. Median age was 60 years, with an increase of 5 years. Patients aged between 55 years and 64 years decreased, while patients aged > or = 65 years increased. The male-to-female ratio was 2.88:1, with no significant change. The rates of patients with the stage-I and -II disease changed insignificantly, while patients with stage-III disease increased, and patients with stage-I disease decreased. The 5-year survival rate of all the patients was 28.5%, which increased from 20.9% between 1984 and 1993 to 35.5% between 1994 to 2003.

CONCLUSIONSDuring the past 20 years, associated with the upward-trending incidence of gastric cardia adenocarcinoma, the admission rate at our hospital of patients with the tumor increased. The median age of the patients also increased. The ratio of men to women had no significant change. The proportion of patients with late-stage disease decreased and prognosis has improved.