Pathological prognostic score as a simple criterion to predict outcome in gastric carcinoma

Purpose: The aim of this study was to establish a simple criterion to predict prognosis of patients with gastric carcinoma. Methods: Two hundred four patients with gastric carcinoma, who had been treated with curative resection, were enrolled. One point was added for each category among four pathological factors of depth of tumor, lymph node metastasis, venous invasion, and lymphatic invasion. Pathological Prognostic Score (PPS) was determined by an aggregate of these points for each category. Results: There existed a significant difference between survivals of patients with PPS 0 or 1 and 2 or 3 (P=0.0002). Similarly, there also existed a significant difference between survivals of patients with PPS 2 or 3 and 4 (P=0.010). Conclusions: PPS can be quite simple criteria to predict prognosis of gastric carcinoma with a strict stratification.