Surgical treatment of gastric stump carcinoma

From 1965 to 1976 134 patients with gastric stump carcinoma were treated. Twenty-nine patients underwent a curative resection. The postoperative mortality was 8 patients; 14 patients survived 3 years. These statistics do not differ significantly from those obtained in primary gastric carcinoma. Twenty-nine patients underwent a palliative resection. The mean survival time was 8.2 month. This survival does not differ from that obtained by other palliative procedures. From the survival time alone one cannot conclude that a palliative resection is preferable to other procedures. Gastric stump carcinoma does not differ essentially from gastric carcinoma and it should be considered as the most important life threatening postoperative complication of partial gastrectomy. On account of the changed anatomical status a total gastrectomy in gastric stump carcinoma is 'the treatment of choice.'