Abstract
The mechanism of carcinogenesis in the stomach is still unknown. However, accumulation of information on histopathology of early gastric carcinomas will provide a clue for elucidation of true pro-cancerous conditions and will eventually lead to solution to the problem. The authors studied 95 selected cases of early carcinoma that were encountered at their surgical depart-ment and tried to identify the conditions on which bases the malignancies had developed. As reported previously, 10 of the cases (10.5%) were judged to have arisen from pro-existing gastric polyps and other 25 (26.3%) from chronic penetrating ulcers. Excluding these cases, this paper deals with the results with the other 60 cases - those which are customarily referred to as gastritis-carcinomas. Chronic gastritis appeared to be the most probable matrix of carcinoma in a large majority (38 cases) but not all of these 60 cases. Fifteen of the cases were suggestive of carcinogenesis from shallow gastric ulcer or its scar, and in the remaining seven both chronic gastritis and shallow ulcer were considered to be responsible for development of malignancy. Thus, the ulcerative lesion of the stomach, shallow or penetrating, should be regarded as one of the most significant conditions as regards the possibility of malignant change.
