Gastric cancer hospital-based registry: real-world gastric cancer data from Latin America and Europe.

Background: Gastric cancer has a high incidence and mortality rate worldwide. Epidemiological, clinical, and molecular features significantly impact patient outcomes. In regions lacking a national gastric cancer registry, hospital-based registries can provide crucial data that may aid in planning therapeutic strategies for the disease. Methods: A retrospective observational cohort design was carried out in European Union (EU) and Latin American (LATAM) countries participating in the LEGACy project. Survival estimates were determined using actuarial Kaplan-Meier curves. Comparison was carried out with the log-rank test, and differences were considered statistically significant for Results: A total of 689 patients diagnosed with gastric cancer from November 2018 to November 2019 were included. Both cohorts had the body as the most common site reported (34.4% for EU and 51% for LATAM). The most used method for staging was computed tomography for both cohorts, although 6.9% of the LATAM population had positron emission tomography/computed tomography instead. Intestinal histological subtype was the most common (41.9% and 46.3% reported by EU and LATAM), while diffuse subtype was 44.9% for the LATAM and 21.3% for the EU population. Among patients tested for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), 12.5% were positive in the EU cohort and 13.8% in the LATAM cohort. For both cohorts, the most common site of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 positivity was the gastroesophageal junction. Systemic treatment with curative intention was indicated in 50.7% in the EU cohort and 46.4% of the LATAM cohort. The most frequent scheme indicated for both the localized and the advanced setting was platinum-based (42.6% and 84.8% for EU and LATAM). Considering both cohorts, only 14.4% of the patients received second-line treatment, and 3% received a third-line treatment. After using Cox regression analysis, no difference in overall survival was reported, with a median of 10.9 months. Conclusions: Despite the limitations of hospital-based registry analysis, our study has provided valuable insights into clinical characteristics and treatment approaches of EU and LATAM populations.