title: Stomach cancer--is it a lost cause?
abstract: A retrospective study of 7 years of endoscopy at Trafford General Hospital from 1986-1993 identified 143 patients diagnosed as having gastric cancer, of whom 13 cases were identified as early gastric cancer. Epigastric pain was the main symptom (66%) of those presenting with resectable disease. Weight loss (70%) was the most common symptom of patients presenting with advanced disease. Forty-seven patients had no surgery and 25 had palliative non-resective surgery. These two groups account for 50% of cases. With such a small detection rate of early gastric cancer and consequent curative surgery rate one must debate whether treatment of stomach cancer in the Trust hospital of the future is a lost cause.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Studies, Trafford General Hospital, Manchester, UK.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Humphreys
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Kingston
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Robinson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005743:Gastrectomy / Q000379:methods; D005773:Gastroscopy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome