[Results following gastrectomy and its relation to tumor stage in stomach cancer]

88 patients suffering from gastric cancer underwent total gastrectomy. The late results were clearly dependent on the stage of the tumour. In cases of stage T1 and T2 the 5 years survival rate amounted to 86%, in cases of T3 and T4 however, only to 4%. In cases of M0 50% of these patients lived longer than 5 years, in patients with lymphatic spread this percentage came up to 8.7 only. The postsurgical mortality rate was 19.3 on an average with an increase in larger tumours. For improving the prognosis the authors recommend total gastrectomy even in cases of the gastric tumour having a smaller extent.