[The lymphatic drainage of the stomach (author's transl)]

The authors became interested in the lymphatic drainage of the stomach in order to attempt to determine for each region the type of drainage and the risk of cancer spread. They studied 132 dissections including 97 injections, 210 cases records of gastric carcinoma, 8 lymphographies by ultrafluid Lipiodol and 17 peroperative injections of vital staining. The system of drainage proposed by Rouvière was on the whole confirmed; however, one should emphasise the doubling of the hepatic chain, the existence of long collectors which bypass a relay in the left gastric artery, the importance of the posterior gastric artery which transmits the lymphatics of the splenic chain. Finally, the authors emphasise the existence of 3 longitudinal areas on the stomach where the presence or agsence of valvules in the subserous collectors orients the lymph towards the lesser or greater curvature of the stomach, which easily explains the onset of isolated carcinomatous adenopathy, situated on the curvature opposite the neoplasm.