[New aspects of early gastric carcinoma]

Between 1st January 1970 and 31st December 1984, 910 total or subtotal resections for gastric cancer were carried out in the Department of Surgery of the University Clinic Mannheim. A work-up of operative specimens showed that 146 patients (16%) had early gastric carcinoma. The patients comprised 97 men and 49 women; the youngest was 31, the oldest 86 years. The following trends were apparent when the 58 patients operated on between 1970 and 1976 were compared with the 68 patients operated on between 1977 and 1982: An increase in early gastric carcinoma is also detectable in younger patients. The previously seen tendency for localisation in the antrum appears to have changed in favour of the upper segments of the stomach. The proportion of the diffuse type rose from 26% in the first group to 44% in the second. The 5-year survival of all patients with early gastric carcinoma was 78.8%. No significant difference could be found between the diffuse and intestinal type. The prognosis of early gastric carcinoma appears to be dependent on the depth of invasion and involvement of the lymph nodes.