Background/aims: The putative influence of tumor location on the biologic behavior of gastric carcinomas remains controversial. The aim of this study was to investigate if carcinomas arising in the three types of gastric mucosa (cardia, fundus/body and antrum) have different clinical and pathologic profiles and carry a different prognosis.

Methods: Three hundred and two patients with cardia or gastric carcinoma resected between 1984 and 1996 were retrospectively studied. Cases were divided in three groups according to tumor location: cardia (n = 80); fundus/body (n = 60); antrum (n = 162). The three groups were crosstabulated with clinic and pathologic parameters, such as age, sex, macroscopy, histology, desmoplasia, tumor size, depth of tumor wall penetration, nodal status, venous invasion and stage. Survival rates were calculated for the three locations according to the aforementioned parameters. Univariate survival analysis and Cox regression were performed for each location.

Results: Cases from the cardia and fundus/body were similar and distinct from antrum cases according to macroscopy, tumor size, depth of wall penetration, venous invasion, nodal status and stage. Cases from fundus/body were similar to antrum cases and distinct from cardia cases according to gender and Laurén's classification. An overall difference in survival between the three locations was observed (p = 0.006). Cumulative survival was better for patients with carcinomas in the antrum than in the cardia (p = 0.04) and in the fundus/body (p = 0.003); no significant differences were observed in survival between cardia and fundus/body carcinoma cases. Cox regression identified stage and venous invasion as prognostic factors for patients with carcinomas in the three locations. In the group of cardia tumors, older patients had a worse outcome and in the group of fundus/body carcinomas, large tumors were associated with a poorer survival.

Conclusions: Our results show that cardia carcinoma and antrum carcinoma are distinct gastric carcinoma entities whereas fundus/body carcinoma shares some characteristics from both entities.