Mortality from gastric cancer following gastric surgery for peptic ulcer

When compared with a matched population group, 4466 ulcer patients who had had gastric surgery between 1940 and 1960 showed no difference in the risk of death from gastric cancer in the first 20 years of follow-up but a 4.5-fold increase thereafter. In duodenal ulcer patients there was an initial decrease in risk followed by a 3.7-fold increase after 20 or more years. Since the initial decrease was seen only in the gastrectomy patients and not in those who had truncal vagotomy and drainage, it may have been due to the reduction in mucosal surface. The increased risk 20 years after duodenal ulcer surgery was greater in vagotomy patients than in gastrectomy patients. In gastric ulcer patients a 3.0-fold increase in risk for the first 20 years rose to a 5.5-fold increase thereafter. After 20 years, patients treated with the Bilroth II operation were at higher risk than those treated with Bilroth I, consistent with a role for bile reflux in gastric carcinogenesis. The finding that the risk differs according to original pathology and type of operation may explain the discrepancies between previous studies.