[Radical treatment and prognosis: results of a multicenter surgical-pathologic TNM stomach cancer study].

A multicentre observational study with 22 departments of surgery and 14 departments of pathology was started on April 1st, 1982 to validate TNM classification for patients with gastric carcinoma. 1417 patients with histologically proven gastric cancer entered the study. Follow-up is now 3-5 years. A subgroup of 138 patients (age under 65 years, no metastases M 0, curative resection R 0, only T 2-T 4-carcinomas and tumors situated only in the middle and lower third of the stomach) was studied. 65 had subtotal, 73 total resection. The 3 to 5 years cumulative survival time was at least not worse with subtotal in comparison to total resection.