title: Accuracy of current educational literature on the staging of gastric carcinoma.
abstract: Staging of gastric adenocarcinoma is important for comparing aspects of the disease in Asia and in the Western countries, and it may be used to direct the treatment strategy. A survey of 13 popular current surgical textbooks and review journals found a high level of inaccuracy. Two texts (15%) did not mention any staging systems, and one (8%) described a nonstandard system. Three (23%) described staging systems that were out of date, and six descriptions (46%) were inaccurate. Only 40% of the cited staging systems was reliable. This level of inaccuracy leads to confusion for the reader and to difficulty interpreting other relevant literature.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Kwong Wah Hospital, 25 Waterloo Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Fung
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000473:pathology*; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education; D006801:Humans; D009367:Neoplasm Staging / Q000379:methods; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D012196:Review Literature as Topic; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D013782:Textbooks as Topic / Q000592:standards*