[Early complications and early mortality of various operative methods of gastrectomy (author's transl)]

From 1959-1976, 183 gastrectomies were performed in the Chirurgische Klinik of the University of Tübingen, for gastric carcinoma. The average mortality for the operations was 19.1%, postoperative complications occurred in 41% of the cases. The most frequent cause of death was failure of the oesophageal anastomoses. The two methods most commonly used, Longmire-Gütgemann's interposition of small intestine and oesophagojejunostomy with Braun's anastomosis, differ considerably in the complication rate and mortality. The interposition of small intestine, with almost indentical preoperative and intraoperative risk factors, an operative mortality of 4.4% and distinctly less danger of anastomotic failure was shown to be superior to the technically simple oesophagojejunostomy. The formation of an "artificial stomach" in gastrectomy is therefore to be preferred to all other surgical methods of reconstruction of the intestinal passage, not only because of the better late results but also because of the better early results.