ABSTRACT
During the eleven years from January 1978 to December 1988, we experienced 1, 287 cases of gastric cancer, hospitalized in the surgical department of Tsuchiura Kyodo Hospital which is located in the southern agricultural district of Ibaraki Prefecture.<BR>Among these 1, 287 cases, 1, 233 patients were operated on. Gastric resection was performed in 1, 059 cases including 337 cases of total gastrectomy with the resection rate of 85.9 percent (1, 059/1, 233). In 863 cases, resection gave histologically satisfactory results, and our curative resection rate was 70.0 percent (863/1, 233). Direct mortality rate was 2.35% in all operated cases and 1.32% in resected cases.<BR>The five-year survival rate over the period from 1978 to 1983 was 57.7% in all resected cases and 69.3% in curatively resected cases.<BR>Annual follow up observation showed increases in resection rate, curative resection rate, and five-year survival rate. However, there were no remarkable changes in the rate of total gastrectomy, rate of combined resection of other organs, and degree of lymph nodes dissection.<BR>The main factor contributing to the improvement in the results of surgical treatment of gastric cancer was the increase in the detection rate of cancer in relatively early stages, through gastric mass survey or total check-up in the asymptomatic stage.