Prevalence and Clinicopathological Correlation of Epstein-Barr Virus-Associated Gastric Cancer in Iraqi Patients

Background: New horizons are opened for the treatment of Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV)-positive gastric cancers, however, specific clinicopathological characteristics have not been identified in addition to ethnic and geographical incidence variation. Aim: In this study, we investigated the prevalence of EBV-positive gastric cancer in a sample of Iraqi patients and evaluated the clinicopathological correlation. Materials and Methods: Thirty formalin fixed paraffin embedded primary adenocarcinoma were retrieved from the archives of the Department of Pathology at Baghdad Teaching Hospital. Demographics and histopathological data were collected from patients' records. EBV-DNA was targeted by an in-situ hybridization technique. Results: the mean age of the patients was 55.8± 13.39 years, with a range of 30-80 years. The male-to-female ratio is 1.3:1. EBV was detected in 8 (26.6%) cases. EBV-positive gastric carcinoma did not exhibit any demographically significant variations. Although 5 (62.7%) of the EBV-positive tumors were of intestinal type, 6 (75%) were antral/pyloric and 6 (75%) were advanced stage, these characteristics did not differ significantly from those of the EBV-negative tumors. Conclusions: the prevalence of EBV gastric cancer is relatively high. Association with histopathologic type, anatomical site, and tumor stage did not reach statistically significant warranting larger multicentric study