Correlation between gastritis cystica profunda and the risk of lymph node metastasis in early gastric cancer.

In early gastric cancer (EGC) patients, lymph node metastasis (LNM) risk assessment is particularly important for the selection of surgical methods. In this study, we investigated the correlation between gastritis cystica profunda (GCP) and the risk of LNM in EGC. From January 2014 to December 2019, EGC patients who underwent curative radical gastrectomy were enrolled in this study. The clinicopathological features were analyzed, and the correlation between GCP and the risk of lymph node metastasis was assessed. Data for 180 EGC patients were analyzed, and 17.8% (32/180) had LNM. The incidence of LNM was 2.6% in the GCP-positive group and 21.8% in the GCP-negative group. Univariate analysis revealed that GCP, depth of tumor invasion, and lymphovascular invasion were the risk factors of LNM in EGC patients. Multiple regression analysis showed that GCP was associated with the risk of LNM in EGC patients (OR=0.097, 0.121, 0.100, p<0.05). The curve fitting results showed that there was a negative correlation between the GCP and LNM in EGC, which was consistent between different tumor sites, size, ulceration, differentiation types, depth of tumor invasion, lymphovascular invasion, and no significant interaction was found among these factors (p for interaction range 0.224-0.717). GCP is closely related to LNM in EGC. Preoperative assessment of whether EGC is combined with GCP is beneficial for the assessment of the risk of LNM.