Cancer of the stomach.

Carcinoma of the stomach, although its incidence is decreasing in the United States, is still a fatal disease. The results today are actually no better than they were 30 years ago because we are still making late diagnoses. In order to improve our results in the treatment of cancer of the stomach, we must perform fiberoptic gastroscopy in individuals over age 40 who have gastric complaints that do not respond readily to conservative medical therapy. At the time of endoscopy, multiple biopsies of gastric mucosa must be taken. Only in this way can early enough diagnoses be made to increase the survival rate in gastric carcinoma.