[Gastric cancer in a general hospital. Santa Rosa Hospital. Experience]

Determine the frequency of gastric cancer and its clinical and pathological characteristics, clinical stages, surgical treatment, morbimortality and survival in a general hospital.

Retrospective, descriptive study on 71 consecutive patients diagnosed with gastric cancer at the Santa Rosa Hospital from January 1, 2005 to January 31, 2008.

During the study period, 71 cases of gastric adenocarcinoma were confirmed by histopathology. This disease is more frequent in men, with a 1.54 to 1 ratio, as compared to women. The most frequent age of appearance is between the fifth and seventh decades of life. Distal tumors (81.7%) are four times more common than proximal tumors (18,3%). The most common histological type was carcinoma in signet-ring cells (40.8%). The most frequent degree of differentiation was Undifferentiated (42.3%). A 62% (n=44) of patients entered the operating room. The resectability rate was 68% (n=30). The advanced stage was the most common form of presentation in patients (97.2%), while the early stage was rare (2.8%). The most frequent surgeries were the distal subtotal gastrectomy (73.3%) and the total gastrectomy (26.7%). The D2 (73.3%) dissection was performed. The mortality rate was 6.7% and the morbidity rate was 26.7%. Survival was better in patients who underwent resection than in patients who only underwent biopsy or were unresectable, evidencing statistical significance.

Gastric cancer is diagnosed in a late stage and surgical treatment plays a pivotal role and, even in advanced cases, morbidity/mortality is acceptable for the initial experience at a third-level general hospital. It is necessary to carry out screening program to detect the disease in earlier stages.