Early gastric cancer: evaluation of diagnostic, clinicopathologic and therapeutic aspects in 60 cases.

A series of 60 patients with early gastric cancer (EGC) operated on from 1.1.1971 to 31.5.1983 is reviewed; since three cases had two and another case even had three synchronous primitive neoplastic lesions, a total of 65 EGC are reported. A prevalence of the "ulcerated" types, a large variability of lesion size and a prevalence of location along the lesser curvature and the antrum was observed; 38 EGC (58.46%) were confined to the mucosa (m), 27 (41.54%) also involved the submucosa; histologically, 53 EGC (81.54%) were of the intestinal type, and 12 (18.46%) were of the diffuse type. Associated lesions, above all chronic atrophic gastritis, intestinal metaplasia and adenomatous gastric polyps were often found. Clinical symptoms were not very specific (epigastric pain, abdominal distension, vomit, dyspepsia, GI hemorrhage) whereas x-ray and endoscopic evaluation had a very high diagnostic accuracy. Our policy is to perform curative resection for gastric cancer, in the form of partial or total gastrectomy with the removal of first level (n1) and second level (n2) lymph node groups and occasionally additional resection of enlarged lymph nodes in the tertiary (n3) group when metastases are suspected. All our patients have been followed up in order to detect any recurrences or metastases.