Endoscopic-pathological characteristics of early-onset gastric carcinoma in Vietnamese in the period 2014–2019: A single-center experience

To investigate the time-trend and endoscopic-pathological characteristics of early-onset gastric carcinoma (EOGC) in Vietnamese patients. All patients who underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy at a tertiary hospital during the 2014–2019 period and had pathologically confirmed gastric carcinoma were retrospectively recruited. The demographic data and endoscopic and pathological findings from all patients were recorded and analyzed to compare the EOGC group (i.e., ≤40 years of age) with the older group (>40 years of age). Out of 1668 patients with gastric carcinoma, 151 (9.1%) patients were with EOGC. The time-trend change in the EOGC rate was insignificant during the investigated period (p = .972). The median age of patients with EOGC was 35 (IQR, 32–38). Compared with the older group, EOGC was more likely to present with a female predominance (52.3% vs. 30.7%, p < .001), endoscopically located at the gastric body (34.4% vs. 19.2%, p < .001), presented with a diffuse infiltrative appearance (18.9% vs. 11.7%, p = .011) but were less likely to have superficial gastric cancer morphology (0.0% vs. 4.5%, p = .009). Pathologically, it was more likely to have diffuse type (36.4% vs. 23.9%, p = .001) and poor differentiation (90.6% vs. 62.7%, p < .001). EOGC in Vietnamese individuals is not rare, and its incidence has not significantly changed during the studying period. The majority of EOGC was poorly differentiated carcinoma. This study reported the different endoscopic distribution and appearance of EOGC from gastric carcinoma in older patients requiring attention during endoscopic examination.