[Surgical treatment of cancers of the stomach]

Gastric cancer remains a serious health problem 5 years survival remains low and early diagnosis anecdotical in France. Gastrectomy is the only curative treatment and the extent of surgery depends upon the tumor location. The extent of the node dissection is under discussion, Japanese surgeons recommend extensive dissection and publish better results in term of survival than Europeans groups. Two randomized prospectives trials comparing limited and extensive dissection have not shown any difference but an increased morbidity in the group with extensive dissection. Adjuvant treatments radiation or chemotherapy should be given therapeutic trials because they have not been proved as efficient.