[Total gastrectomy for the surgical treatment of gastric cancer]

We review the work of professor József Imre, who had outstanding ability in surgery and also took part in organizing modern hungarian surgery of oesophagus and stomach. We present the results of operations for malignant gastric tumours performed between 1963 and 1981 in the First Department of Surgery, University Medical School of Szeged. We describe in details the typical data about total gastrectomies and compare the results with what we can achieve in our days. We compare changes in diagnosis, indications, incisions, evaluation of methods of reconstruction, postoperative death, anastomotic leak late survival for total gastrectomies.