Mortality caused by stomach cancer after remote partial gastrectomy for benign conditions: 40 years of follow up of an Amsterdam cohort of 2633 postgastrectomy patients.

Mortality caused by stomach cancer was analysed in a cohort of 2633 postgastrectomy patients who underwent surgery for benign conditions in the academic medical centre of the University of Amsterdam between 1931-1960. In comparison with mortality from gastric cancer in the general Dutch population, the observed versus expected ratio in the postgastrectomy group was significantly increased among women, after a postoperative latency of more than 15 years (O/E: 4.77; p = 0.011) and among men after a postoperative latency of more than 25 years (O/E: 3.13; p = 0.005). The analysis confirms that the discrepancies in risk appraisal which seem to exist between reports published in Europe and the USA may be explained by the differences in length of follow up in these studies.