| Summary: | In the present study, we observed that the adenocarcinoma component in the mucosa was continuous with neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC) in the deeper layers; this suggests the normal course of NEC carcinogenesis at the histological level. A 72-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with a chief complaint of tarry stools. Endoscopic examination of the upper gastrointestinal tract revealed a 2-cm tumor, with a deep central depression, surrounded by a smooth elevated area, in the middle of the stomach body. A biopsy showed that the tumor was a moderately differentiated gastric adenocarcinoma. The patient underwent total gastrectomy and standard lymph node dissection. The resected tumor was a 3.5 × 2.5 cm type 2 lesion. It comprised two elements at the histological level: (i) a moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma in the superficial portion of the mucous membrane layer, and (ii) NEC-like cells with dark, round nuclei and scant cytoplasm, presenting a solid and trabecular pattern, in the submucosal and muscularis propria layers. Immunohistochemical findings showed that the NEC-like cells were diffusely positive for chromogranin A, synaptophysin, neural cell adhesion molecule, and neuron-specific enolase, but were negative for carcinoembryonic antigen. The Ki-67 labeling index was 95%. The final pathological diagnosis was gastric NEC with an adenocarcinoma component and a high cellular proliferative potential.
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