[Clinical implications of the infiltration level of early gastric cancer]

Sixty-nine cases of early gastric cancer (EGC) were taken into consideration, out of a series of 585 operations for gastric cancer, carried out between January 1976 and June 1988. Differences between two groups (I: EGC limited to the mucosa; II: EGC with invasion of both the mucosa and submucosa) have been assessed with reference to familiarity for gastric cancer, previous gastric and duodenal pathology, symptoms, site of the lesion, histological features, lymph node metastatic involvement and results. Despite some pathological and clinical differences, modification of current surgical treatment with endoscopic management is not justified by any features, even when dealing with intramucosal, intestinal type EGC, because of possible lymph node involvement or long-term recurrences.