[Histological classification of stomach cancer and its prognostic value]

The morphology of stomach carcinoma was analysed in relation to the longevity of the patients after a radical operation for 1958--1967 (513 observations). The highest prognostic importance was found to belong to such factors as the presence of metastases in the perigastral lymph nodes, the depth of the tumour outgrowth through the stomach wall, the pattern of the tumour growth in relation to the surrounding tissue (pushing back or infiltrating), mucus formation in the tumour, the reaction of the tumour stroma and the surrounding tissue in the form of infiltration with lymphoid or plasma cells. The histological form of the tumour by itself as well as the degree of its structural differentiation are of little value for the prognosis. From the foregoing, a histological classification of stomach carcinoma is suggested including the two main histological forms of stomach carcinoma: adenocarcinoma and carcinoma simplex, and reflecting most prognostically important features of the tumour.