Discrepancies between preoperative assessment and final pathological criteria in early gastric cancer

Figure 1 Flowchart of the study. The cohort was comprised 446 patients treated with endoscopic submucosal dissection, and 380 were managed surgically for early gastric cancer (EGC) diagnosis from January 2010 to December 2022. Fundic gland type gastric adenocarcinoma and neuroendocrine carcinomas were excluded given their pathological distinction from gastric adenocarcinomas, fundamentally divergent biological behavior, and unique therapeutic principles. A cohort of 796 EGCs was subsequently analyzed to evaluate EGC clinical decision accuracy by comparing therapeutic indication with postoperative pathological criteria and analyzing factors influencing discrepancies. EGC: Early gastric cancer; ESD: Endoscopic submucosal dissection.