[Endoscopic diagnosis of gastric cancer of a benign appearance]

From April, 1982 to March, 1987, we have performed 36,566 gastrofiberscopic examinations and have detected 793 gastric cancers among 7,618 biopsies. Of these 55 cancerous lesion (6.9%) diagnosed as benign at the time of endoscopic examinations were analyzed and the following results were noted. 1. Most such lesions were small in size and superficial in nature. 2. The gross appearances of the cancers were mainly IIc, IIc + III or IIa. 3. The lesions were most frequently located on the gastric angulus or the side with a lesser curvature. 4. Histologically, well differentiated adenocarcinomas were relatively frequent. 5. False-negative cases determined by endoscopic examination were not infrequent in cases of lesions involving an ulcer, or showed redness, erosion or a polyp.