Clinical study of gastric cancer patients with complaint of hematemesis.

Eighteen gastric cancer patients with complaint of hematemesis, who underwent early endoscopic treatment for hemorrhage and received standby oncologic treatment after recovery, were retrospectively compared with 661 gastric cancer patients without complaint of hematemesis. Patients with hematemesis had a statistically high rate of type 2 gastric cancers. Stage I in patients with hematemesis was significantly less frequent than in patients without. Standby gastrectomy after early endoscopic treatment was performed on 17 (94.4%) of the patients with complaint of hematemesis. The resected specimens showed a significant association of hematemesis with serosal invasion, node metastases, and vascular invasion. However, there was no significant association of hematemesis and postoperative complications or prognosis. Our findings suggest that prognosis of gastric cancer patients with hematemesis has improved with the development of endoscopic diagnosis and treatment. For such patients, it is very important to decide on an oncologic treatment plan after endoscopic treatment and accurate assessment of the cancer stage.