Gastric cancer with special reference to prognostic factors. A review of 779 cases.

A series of 779 patients with gastric cancer diagnosed in the 20-year period 1960-1979 is presented. Surgery was performed in 86% of the cases, but was judged to be radical in only 28%. The operative mortality in the total period was 14.3%, with a fall in the final 5-year period. Patient age, stage of cancer and radicality of operation were prognostic factors as regards survival time. The overall 5-year survival rate was 12%. The rate was 37% after radical surgery, increasing to 49% when corrected for age and sex. The survival rate was unchanged during the period of the study. The crude 5-year survival among the patients with radical surgery was 41% and was independent of the type of surgery. Median age was significantly lower in the patients with early-stage cancer than in the series as a whole. The numbers of younger patients increased during the last ten years of the study.