On the reputed decline in gastric carcinoma: necropsy study from western Norway.

Carcinoma of the stomach is said to be decreasing in many countries, Norway included. About 10% of all cases in Norway occur in the county of Hordaland. They do not differ in any known respect from cases in the rest of the country. A series of 575 cases coming to necropsy from Hordaland over 25 years was examined and the findings compared with the total number reported to the Norwegian Cancer Registry from the same district. Although the incidence of histological verification rose over the period from 49 to 85%, the number of histologically confirmed cases remained relatively constant, the considerable decline being confined to cases without such documentation. The results suggest that increased diagnostic effort has led to the exclusion of cases previously classified clinically as gastric carcinoma and that the incidence of the disease itself has not changed radically in the county of Hordaland.