Gastroesophageal signet ring cell carcinoma morbidity and mortality: A retrospective review.

Background: Upper gastrointestinal (GI) signet ring cell carcinomas (SRCC) confer a poor prognosis. The benefit of operative intervention for this patient group is controversial in terms of overall survival.

Aim: To investigate factors relating to survival in patients with upper GI SRCC.

Methods: A retrospective, tertiary, single-centre review of patients who were diagnosed with oesophageal, gastroesophageal junction and gastric SRCC was performed. The primary outcome was to compare mortality of patients who underwent operative management with those who had nonoperative management. Secondary outcomes included assessing the relationship between demographic and histopathological factors, and survival.

Results: One hundred and thirty-one patients were included. The one-year survival for the operative group was 81% and for the nonoperative group was 19.1%. The five-year survival in the operative group was 28.6% 1.5% in the nonoperative group. The difference in overall survival between groups was statistically significant (HR 0.19, 95%CI (0.13-0.30), < 0.001). There was no difference in survival when adjusting for age, smoking status or gender. On multivariate analysis, patients who underwent surgical management, those with a lower stage of disease, and those with a lower Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) had significantly improved survival.

Conclusion: Well-selected patients with upper GI SRCC appear to have reasonable medium-term survival following surgery. Offering surgery to a carefully selected patient group may improve the outcome for this disease.