Adenocarcinoma of the stomach: current results of treatment.

One hundred-seventy-one patients with gastric adenocarcinoma seen at this medical center from 1972 through 1976 were reviewed. Proper TNM staging was possible in 154 patients. The overall 5-year survival (NED) was 10% and was 20.5% in those patients resected for cure. The operative mortality was 13.7% with most deaths occurring in patients with advanced stage disease. Although operating mortality has decreased in the past 50 years, long-term survival has not changed appreciably in spite of the additional use of radiotherapy or chemotherapy either as adjuvant therapy or for advanced residual neoplasm. Microscopic involvement of margins of resection must be avoided at operation as it is nearly synonymous with early recurrence and death.