[Clinical and diagnostic characteristics of the early forms of stomach cancer].

Clinical and diagnostic problems of early stomach cancer were considered for 157 patients with diagnosis confirmed after operation. Gastroenterological diseases were not mentioned in the past medical history of 22.9% of the patients only. 48.4% of the patients had the so-called stomach precancerous diseases, 28.7% other diseases of the alimentary tract. At diagnosis of carcinoma, 51.6% of the patients had clinical signs of previous diseases. The importance of prophylactic medical examination in the diagnosis of early stomach cancer was emphasized (cancer was detected actively in 84.7%). Since the gross appearance of early stomach cancer looks like benign lesions, the x-ray and endoscopic methods might not be quite informative. Morphological examination of the spot biopsy material raised preoperative diagnostic accuracy up to 92.3%.