[On the therapy and prognosis of stomach sarcoma (author's transl)]

Between 1964 and 1980, 51 patients with non-epithelial, malignant tumours were operated on in the Surgical Clinic of the University of Mainz. The malignant stomach lymphoma group should be dealt with separately, because of the different therapy and prognosis of other stomach sarcomas. Undifferentiated sarcomas with the lowest level of tissue maturity and differentiated sarcomas of a higher level of tissue maturity should be operated on according to the criteria for cancer surgery. Follow-up with radiotherapy and cytostasis seems only appropriate for undifferentiated sarcomas. The prognosis is determined by the stage of the tumor and type of histology. The malignant stomach lymphoma is a henceforth generalised disease and must therefore, first of all, be assigned to a disease stage by means of a suitable clinical examination, as an operation is only appropriate in the first and second stages. A staging laparotomy should be carried out with the resection of the tumour, as this makes it possible to detect tumour spread in the abdominal cavity. In this way, the type of postoperative treatment can be determined. Patients with postoperative treatment (cytostasis/radiation) had a clearly better prognosis.