Results of operative treatment of gastric cancer in the department of surgery, university of Szeged during the time period 1996–2001

However, the incidence of gastric cancer has been declining in Hungary too, it is till remain a common cause of cancer mortality. The five-year survival rate has been improved due to the fewer postoperative deaths and the more radical operations (e.g. extended lymphadenectomies). Despite these improvements prognosis of gastric cancer remains poor. The aim of this study was to asses the results of the treatment of 183 patients presented with gastric cancer to our department.

Methods: Age, sex, histology reports, TNM staging, type of the surgical interventions, the postoperative morbidity and mortality rate were presented.

Results: Potentially curative resection could be performed about half of the patients (92/182). Large proportion of the patients belong to the locally advanced cancer group (112/182). The ratio of the different TNM stage remained the same year by year in the investigated period despite the improving endoscopic facilities.

Conclusion: In spite of the improvement of diagnostic tools, the proportion of patients undergoing radical surgery has not been increased in this period. Early diagnosis of the gastric cancer is the crucial step and continouos effort should be made by the surgeons, the gastroenterologist and the general practitioners to identify the high risk patients with use of new, sensitive screening methods.