SURGICAL ASPECTS OF THE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF GASTRIC-CARCINOMA - RESULTS OF THE GERMAN GASTRIC-CARCINOMA STUDY 1992

In a prospective multi-centre study data were collected on 1,999 patients (1273 men, 726 women; mean age 62.3 [19-99] years) with gastric carcinoma, admitted to one of 19 surgical departments in Germany between 1. 4. 1986 to 30. 6. 1989. Previously treated patients as well as those with synchronous or metachronous tumours and carcinoma of the gastric stump had been excluded. The resection rate for gastric carcinoma was 82.7%, i.e. resection was no longer possible because of the advanced tumour stage in nearly 20%. The tumour was located in the upper third of the stomach in 30%, the antrum in 26.3%. An intestinal type of growth was present in 51.9%. An early carcinoma was diagnosed in 16.9% of operated patients; it had already metastasized to regional lymph nodes in 16.5%. Nearly 70% of patients with resectable tumours had metastases to the regional lymph-nodes, with distant metastases in 30%. An advanced tumour stage (UICC stage IIIB or IV) was present in 43%. Exclusively surgical treatment is not effective in these cases.