[Clinical postoperative surveillance of gastric carcinoma]

Up to today no agreement has been reached in relation with gastric remnant surveillance. In the cases of partial gastrectomy for benign pathology, most of the Authors agree in believing that in the asymptomatic subject a follow-up is necessary after 15-20 years only from the surgical intervention. Differently, for the cases of partial gastrectomy for malignant neoplasia, it has not been well defined yet the clinical surveillance. Certainly, a surgical intervention in case of relapse presents remarkable difficulties. The relapses are often located in lymphnodes site or metastasis are present and, therefore, the relapses are local in a low percentages. Besides, sometimes the local relapses cannot be re-operated. In spite of such considerations, the personal opinion is that to act in asymptomatic subjects a regular follow-up, in patients operated for early cancer above all. That is justified by the possibility to notice, by means of endoscopy with multiple biopsies, of pre-neoplastic (epithelial dysplasia) or precocious neoplasia lesions, with the aim of obtaining a satisfactory radical surgical intervention.