Unraveling the identity of gastric cardiac cancer.

Abstract

The classification of gastric cardiac carcinoma (GCC) is controversial. It is currently grouped with esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) as an adenocarcinoma of the gastroesophageal junction (GEJ). Recently, diagnostic criteria for adenocarcinoma in the GEJ were established and GCC was separated from EAC. We viewed published evidence to clarify the GCC entity for better patient management. GCC arises in the cardiac mucosa located from 3 cm below and 2 cm above the GEJ line. Compared with EAC, GCC is more like gastric cancer and affects a higher proportion of female patients, younger patients, those with a lower propensity for reflux disease, a wider histopathologic spectrum, and more complex gen..