Carcinoma of the Stomach in a 7-Year-Old Boy - A Case Report and a Review of the Literature on Children under 10 Years of Age

Abstract

Carcinoma of the stomach in childhood is exceedingly rare. We now report on a case of carcinoma of the stomach in a 7-year-old Japanese boy, the youngest with so-called adult-type carcinoma of the stomach in Japan. The tumour was located mainly in the cardial region. Total gastrectomy was performed and an oesophago-jejunostomy was constructed. Histological studies revealed an anaplastic adeno-carcinoma. The possibility of gastric malignancy should always be considered when gastro-intestinal symptoms persist, even in children.

Gastric cancer in children and adolescents in Japan

“…Seventy‐seven children with gastric cancer were found in the review. We confirmed the absence of overlap cases between the first nationwide survey and the cases found in the review, we added the three children under 16 years old from the survey, analyzing data for a total of 80 children (Table ) . Seventy‐two children (90%) were aged >10 years, and we found no sex differences.…”

“…Four case reports were identified in PubMed . Reviewing the NPO Japan Medical Abstracts Society (Ichushi‐Web) database, we found two Japanese reviews, one in 1982 and one 1986, and new cases that were added were not duplications .…”

“…Four case reports were identified in PubMed. [17][18][19][20] Reviewing the NPO Japan Medical Abstracts Society (Ichushi-Web) database, we found two Japanese reviews, one in 1982 21 and one 1986, 22 and new cases that were added were not duplications. [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] Seventy-seven children with gastric cancer were found in the review.…”

“…We confirmed the absence of overlap cases between the first nationwide survey and the cases found in the review, we added the three children under 16 years old from the survey, analyzing data for a total of 80 children ( Table 2). [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] Seventy-two children (90%) were aged >10 years, and we found no sex differences. Onset symptoms varied: abdominal pain was documented in 34% of the patients.…”

“…Previous reports of gastric cancer in Japanese children[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] …”