Abstract
Among 899 patients who had undergone resection for gastric cancer, excluding remnant or multiple cancer, over the past 14 years in our hospital, 98 patients (10.9%) had cancer localized in the C region. Cancer of the gastric cardia as defined by Nishi et al. was found in 37 out of these 98 patients, amounting to 4.1% of the total number of resected gastric cancers. The characteristics of cancer of the gastric cardia were studied by comparison with other cancers localized in the C region, and the following results were obtained. Cancer of the gastric cardia was most frequently found in males, being 4.3 times as frequent as in females. The macroscopically depressed type, mainly IIc, and histologically differentiated type were predominantly found among early cancers. On the other hand, advanced cancer frequently presented Borrmann type 3 macroscopically and was histologically of the differentiated type, although there was no significant difference in frequency from the undifferentiated type. The five-year survival rate of patients given curative resection was 67.6%.
