[Problems and present status of surgical treatment for early gastric cancer]

We investigated 81 cases resected in our department about 10 years. The following conclusions were obtained. The R2-operation in lymph node dissection should be made even for early gastric cancer. Early gastric cancer with the unclear border, uneven surface or induration should be operated as advanced cancers. Because the positive rate of lymphatic permeation in these cases is high and the hematogenous metastasis is not rarely found. We also sent out a questionnaire to 430 hospitals which were attached to the Japanese Research Society for gastric cancer. We do believed that we should not easily performed the non operative treatment for early gastric cancer, because we could be only obtained the exact information after the histological examination of resected specimens.