Gastric stump cancer: etiopathological and clinical aspects

Between 1959 and 1987, at the Innsbruck University Hospital, 359 cases of carcinoma were diagnosed in the gastric remnant. While until 1975 in 203 patients suffering from stump carcinoma the tumor stages T3 and T4 were significantly prevalent, a strong tendency towards the less advanced tumor stages T1 and T2 was observed in the last decade. Among 94 patients operated on since 1981 the tumor was located at the anastomosis in all but 5 cases, suggesting a strong connection between previous resection and stump carcinoma. In accordance with Lauren's classification no difference was found in the incidence of intestinal and diffuse lesions in 94 cases with stump carcinoma--in contrast to 69 cases of patients with a non-resected stomach. An analysis of the occurrence of acidity, atrophic gastritis and bacterial invasion in 70 patients with previous Billroth II resection and 30 patients with Billroth I resection, revealed no difference between the two types of resection. Gastric remnant carcinoma does not occur exclusively in the Bilroth II remnant, but, increasingly, following Billroth I operations. The finding of a statistically highly significant increase at the 5% level using standard chi 2-technique for a 2 x 5 table in stump carcinomas following Billroth I resections supports the thesis that there is no difference in the etiopathology of carcinogenesis in the Billroth I as compared with the Billroth II remnant.