Early gastric carcinoma in patients with a Billroth II partial gastrectomy

In a consecutive series of 830 routine gastroscopies a total of 43 patients was found with gastric carcinomas, Thirteen of these were patients with a previous Billroth-II operation for ulcer disease. Early cancers were found in ten patients (23%), and four of these ten (3 men, 1 woman, aged 49 to 76 years), had been operated on 20-33 years previosuly with a Billroth II partial gastrectomy. All patients had symptoms indicating gastro-intestinal disease. We conclude that a high number of gastric stump carcinomas may be detected at an early stage, and that endoscopy of the whole gastric stump, with multiple biopsies and brush cytology from the entire gastro-jejunal anastomosis, is of crucial importance in detecting such carcinomas.