Gastric Carcinoma in a 9-Year-Old Boy

Abstract

Gastric carcinoma is an extremely rare cancer in children. A case is presented of a 9-year-old boy admitted to The University Hospital Brno with a 4-month history of abdominal pain, anorexia, weight loss, nausea, and vomiting. Several of his family members died from or have been treated for cancer. Barium meal examination performed 2 months prior to admission was nondiagnostic. When gastroendoscopy, laparoscopy, and abdominal computer tomography scan were performed, the diagnosis of adenocarcinoma of the stomach was established. The patient died 10 days after admission because of rapid cancer spread. Miliary metastases of the peritoneum, mesenterium, omentum, liver, bowels, lungs, heart, bone marrow, and skin were found. No penetration through the hematoencephalic barrier was noticed.

Primary gastric adenocarcinoma in a 2.5-year-old girl

“…Our patient is a new case of de-novo occurrence such as those that have been sporadically reported in the first and second decades of the life [1,6,9]. The lack of any kind of causative information and the normal histological findings of gastric mucosa outside the tumor suggest that our case was a new primary gastric carcinoma, which may be classified as de-novo occurrence, and which ended fatally 4 months after diagnosis in spite of complete resection and administered chemotherapy.…”

Primary gastric tumors of infancy and childhood: 54-year experience at a single institution

“…Reports of childhood gastric carcinomas are limited to case reports [35][36][37]. Larger cohorts include younger adults (age b40) [38].…”

Treatment issues in pediatric gastric adenocarcinoma

“…4,5 Children suffering from gastric cancer often present with abdominal pain, distension, anorexia, emesis/hematemesis, melena, hematochezia, and/or an abdominal mass. [6][7][8][9] Unfortunately, early diagnosis is extremely rare, and the onset of symptoms is frequently indicative of advanced disease and a poor prognosis. 10 After studying 127 patients younger than age 35 years, Windham et al 11 concluded that early diagnosis conferred no survival advantage.…”

“…Children with symptoms of peptic ulcer disease, an abdominal mass, or prolonged hematemesis should have an early upper GI endoscopy with biopsy to avoid a possible delay in diagnosis. 7 Although ultrasound scan and CT studies often are used to aid in diagnosis and surgical strategy, they are nondiagnostic and can be falsely negative. 7 Because of its infrequency in children, treatment strategies, including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, are largely based on principles used in adults.…”

“…7 Although ultrasound scan and CT studies often are used to aid in diagnosis and surgical strategy, they are nondiagnostic and can be falsely negative. 7 Because of its infrequency in children, treatment strategies, including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, are largely based on principles used in adults. Previously, after exploration to confirm resectability, en bloc resection of the tumor, with wide nodal excision, was the initial modality recommended to treat localized disease.…”