Hepatoid adenocarcinoma of the stomach: A case report and literature review

Hepatoid adenocarcinoma of the stomach effectively treated with capecitabine with oxaliplatin as adjuvant chemotherapy: A case report and literature review

INTRODUCTION

Hepatoid adenocarcinoma of the stomach (HAS) is an alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)-producing gastric carcinoma (GC) with a hepatocellular carcinoma-like histology. HAS is a relatively rare type of GC, with liver metastases being more common than peritoneal dissemination in the recurrent form, and the poor prognosis.

PRESENTATION OF CASE

We present the case of a 70-year-old patient who underwent distal gastrectomy for GC and immunohistologically diagnosed as HAS. The patient had an intravenous tumor thrombus at the proximal margin of the resected stomach. Owing to the low possibility of radical resection and high probability of liver metastatic recurrence, capecitabine with oxaliplatin (CapeOX) was started as adjuvant chemotherapy (AC). After three courses of CapeOX, oxaliplatin was discontinued due to adverse events (peripheral neuropathy, grade3) and capecitabine alone was continued for 3 years postoperatively. Six years after surgery, no local recurrence or distant metastasis was detected on imaging studies.

DISCUSSION

There is no established standard treatment for HAS. Recently, some studies have reported the efficacy of antimetabolites or platinum-based drugs as AC regimens. We thus decided to start a regimen consisting of a combination of antimetabolites and a platinum, i.e., CapeOX, which proved efficacious.

CONCLUSION

CapeOX or capecitabine may be effective as AC for treating HAS.

Emphasis on the clinical relationship between alpha-fetoprotein and hepatoid adenocarcinoma of the stomach: a retrospective study

BACKGROUND

Hepatoid adenocarcinoma of the stomach (HAS) is a highly malignant and rare extrahepatic tumor. The prognosis is controversial because of its rarity and the lack of multi-center cohort studies, especially on the influence of serum Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level on prognosis. We aimed to analyze the clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of HAS, particularly the effect of serum AFP on the prognosis of HAS.

METHODS

We retrospectively reviewed clinical data of one HAS patient treated at our institution in 2019 and of 252 patients reported between 1984 and 2020 in research databases.

RESULTS

Among these patients, 60.1% were > 60 years, 51% had lesions in the gastric antrum, and 51.0% (73/143) had the ulcerative lesion type. The preoperative elevated levels of serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) were detected in most patients (76.7%). Lymph-node (84.6%) and preoperative liver metastasis (39.1%) were often found. The high-AFP group was characterized by a higher rate of stage IV (P = 0.000682) and liver metastasis (P = 0.000068). The 1-, 3-and 5-year progression-free survival(PFS) rates were 41%, 18%, and 0%, and the 1-, 3-, and 5-year overall survival (OS) rates were 64%, 26%, and 21%, respectively. The survival analysis showed that OS was significantly shorter for HAS with high-AFP (> 300 ng/ml) than with low-AFP (≤ 300 ng/ml) (P = 0.023). The univariate analysis indicated that the OS of HAS was associated with tumor location, pTNM stage, lymph-node metastasis, surgical resection, and serum AFP > 300 ng/ml. However,the prognostic factors for PFS was only pTNM stage and surgical resection. The multivariate analysis confirmed that the independent prognostic factor affecting OS of HAS included pTNM stage and surgical resection.

CONCLUSIONS

Liver metastasis was increasingly more likely with increasingly higher serum AFP, but the prognosis of HAS is not necessarily poor. Serum AFP level is an important prognostic indicator in HAS and should be monitored.

Pathologic complete response of hepatoid adenocarcinoma of the stomach after chemo-immunotherapy: A rare case report and literature review

Background

Hepatoid adenocarcinoma of the stomach (HAS) is a highly malignant subtype of gastric carcinoma with specific clinicopathological features and extremely poor prognosis. We present an exceedingly rare case of complete response after chemo-immunotherapy.

Case Description

A 48-year-old woman with highly elevated serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level was found to have HAS verified by pathological examination based on gastroscopy. Computed tomography scan was done and TNM staging of the tumor was T4aN3aMx. Programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) immunohistochemistry was performed, revealing a negative PD-L1 expression. Chemo-immunotherapy including oxaliplatin plus S-1 and PD-1 inhibitor terelizumab was given to this patient for 2 months until the serum AFP level decreased from 748.5 to 12.9 ng/mL and the tumor shrank. D2 radical gastrectomy was then performed and histopathology of the resected specimen revealed that the cancerous cells had disappeared. Pathologic complete response (pCR) was achieved and no evidence of recurrence has been found after 1 year of follow-up.

Conclusions

We, for the first time, reported an HAS patient with negative PD-L1 expression who achieved pCR from the combined chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Although no consensus has been reached regarding the therapy, it might provide a potential effective management strategy for HAS patient.

Computed Tomography Features and Clinical Prognostic Characteristics of Hepatoid Adenocarcinoma of the Stomach

PURPOSE

Hepatoid adenocarcinoma of the stomach (HAS) is a highly malignant and aggressive tumor. The purpose of this study was to describe the clinical, computed tomography (CT), and prognostic features of HAS to increase the awareness of this entity and determine its distinguishing features from non-HAS tumors.

METHODS

The CT features and clinical data of 47 patients in our hospital with pathologically documented HAS were retrospectively analyzed, and the relevant differences between pure HAS (pHAS) and mixed HAS (mHAS) were determined. In addition, 141 patients with non-HAS tumors in the same T stage in the same period were selected as the control group. The data were compared between the two groups, and factors affecting the prognosis of HAS were analyzed. In addition, we included 9 patients with HAS and 27 patients with non-HAS tumors from another center for external validation.

RESULTS

The patients in the HAS group were predominantly men (n = 33), and the tumor location was mostly the cardia or fundus (n = 27). Between the HAS and non-HAS groups, there were observed differences in terms of: sex, serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), carbohydrate antigen (CA)-125, and CA-724 levels; longest tumor diameter; degree of differentiation; vascular invasion; N stage, M stage, and tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage; thickest tumor diameter; plain CT attenuation; arterial-phase CT attenuation; CT attenuation between the venous and arterial phases; enhancement modes; and degrees of enhancement (all P < 0.05). In the data from another center for external validation, there were observed differences in terms of: age, degree of differentiation, vascular invasion, thickest tumor diameter, the ratio of arterial CT attenuation to CT attenuation of the abdominal aorta at the same level (RA), CT attenuation difference between the venous phase and arterial phase (HUv-a) (all P < 0.05). The results of the multivariate analysis revealed that the independent factors for differentiation were serum AFP level (P = 0.001), M stage (P = 0.038), and tumor enhancement on CT (P = 0.014). Among patients in the HAS group, 72.34% had pHAS and 27.66% had mHAS. The thickest tumor diameter and the longest short diameter of the metastatic lymph nodes of the mHAS group were on average 6.39 cm and 1.45 cm, respectively, which were larger than those in the pHAS group. The median progression-free survival time was 18.25 months in the HAS group, which was shorter than that in the non-HAS group (72.96 months; P = 0.001). The median overall survival time in the HAS group was 24.80 months, which was shorter than that in the non-HAS group (67.96 months; P = 0.001). The factors affecting the prognosis of HAS were M stage (P = 0.001), overall TNM stage (P = 0.048), presence of vascular cancer emboli (P = 0.040), and pHAS type (P = 0.046). Multifactorial analysis revealed that M stage (P = 0.027) and pHAS type (P = 0.009) were independent risk factors affecting the prognosis of HAS.

CONCLUSION

Although HAS is a rare clinical entity, it should be considered in the differential diagnosis of gastric tumors. Patients with HAS often have advanced-stage disease at presentation and a worse prognosis than patients with non-HAS tumors. CT findings, combined with laboratory results, can support the diagnosis of HAS. However, the final diagnosis needs to be confirmed with a histopathologic examination. If the postoperative pathologic findings reveal the mHAS type, a rapid clinical intervention and a detailed follow-up with CT are essential.

Hepatoid Adenocarcinoma of the Stomach: Current Perspectives and New Developments

Hepatoid adenocarcinoma of the stomach (HAS) is a rare malignant tumor, accounting for only 0.17-15% of gastric cancers. Patients are often diagnosed at an advanced disease stage, and their symptoms are similar to conventional gastric cancer (CGC) without specific clinical manifestation. Morphologically, HAC has identical morphology and immunophenotype compared to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This is considered to be an underestimation in diagnosis due to its rare incidence, and no consensus is reached regarding therapy. HAS generally presents with more aggressive behavior and worse prognosis than CGC. The present review summarizes the current literature and relevant knowledge to elaborate on the epidemic, potential mechanisms, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, management, and prognosis to help clinicians accurately diagnose and treat this malignant tumor.

A Unique Case of Alpha-Fetoprotein-Negative Hepatoid Adenocarcinoma of the Stomach With Associated Signet Ring Cell Histological Features and Linitis Plastica

Hepatoid adenocarcinoma of the stomach (HAS), a rare and unique histological subtype of gastric cancer, accounts for less than 1.5% of all gastric cancers. Historically, this subtype is found to have a poor prognosis in comparison to other types of gastric cancer. While the diagnosis is made based on pathological findings, most cases described in the literature are associated with elevated alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels. We present a case of AFP-negative HAS with additional unique pathologic findings of signet ring cells which has been reported only once in the literature. Given the rare and late presentation of the disease, AFP-negative HAS should be included in the differential diagnosis in patients with suspicion for gastric cancer.

The prognosis of hepatoid adenocarcinoma of the stomach: a propensity score-based analysis

Background

To investigate whether there is a distinct difference in prognosis between hepatoid adenocarcinoma of the stomach (HAS) and non-hepatoid adenocarcinoma of the stomach (non-HAS) and whether HAS can benefit from radical surgery.

Methods

We retrospectively reviewed 722 patients with non-HAS and 75 patients with HAS who underwent radical gastrectomy between 3 November 2009 and 17 December 2018. Propensity score matching (PSM) analysis was used to eliminate the bias among the patients in our study. The relationships between gastric cancer type and overall survival (OS) were evaluated by the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression.

Results

Our data demonstrate that there was no statistically significant difference in the OS between HAS and non-HAS {K-M, P = log rank (Mantel-Cox), (before PSM P = 0.397); (1:1 PSM P = 0.345); (1:2 PSM P = 0.195)}. Moreover, there were no significant differences in the 1-, 2-, or 3-year survival rates between patients with non-HAS and patients with HAS (before propensity matching, after 1:1 propensity matching, and after 1:2 propensity matching).

Conclusion

HAS was generally considered to be an aggressive gastric neoplasm, but its prognosis may not be as unsatisfactory as previously believed.

Clinical and pathological characteristics of α-fetoprotein positive and negative hepatoid adenocarcinomas of the intestinal tract

AIM

To explore the clinical and pathological characteristics of α-fetoprotein (AFP) positive and negative hepatoid adenocarcinoma (HAC) of the intestinal tract.

METHODS

A retrospective analysis was performed of three cases of HAC of the intestinal tract diagnosed at Xijing Hospital from January 2010 to July 2016. The clinical symptoms of patients were recorded. Serum tumor markers were tested by electrochemical luminescence. Imaging examinations of liver and lung metastases were performed. Carcinoma tissues were subjected to pathological and immunohistochemical analyses. Postoperative pathological characteristics and prognosis were assessed.

RESULTS

Before treatment, AFP was highly positive in one case with liver metastasis. All three cases underwent surgical treatment, and pathological staging suggested stage 3 in two cases and stage 4 in one case. Lymph node metastasis was detected in two cases. Vascular and nerve invasion was found in all cases by immunohistochemistry. Tumors consisted of glandular and hepatoid components. Eosinophilic vitreous bodies were found in the cytoplasm of some tumor cells. One patient died, and two cases survived between 2 and 16 mo.

CONCLUSION

HAC patients have no specific symptoms, but have clinicopathological features and immune phenotype. HAC should be differentiated from hepatocellular carcinoma and yolk sac tumors. Although a diagnosis of HAC cannot be achieved by AFP, AFP may be able to help predict the biological behavior, metastasis and recurrences of HAC; AFP negative patients may have better prognosis than positive ones.