PARTIAL GASTRECTOMY

There are two definite classes of lesions of the stomach in which gastrectomy may be indicated. One is malignancy, and the other is peptic ulcer with its complications or sequelae. The first indication, malignancy, admits of no discussion. Gastrectomy is the only known cure for cancer of the stomach. Unfortunately, many patients suffering from this disease come too late for a radical operation, and there is sometimes a tendency to wait too long under medical treatment while the cancer continues to develop. Just what proportion of benign gastric ulcers become cancerous it is difficult to state. The percentage of gastric cancers arising from a peptic ulcer base is estimated at from 10 to as high as 70, the latter being the figures given by the Mayo Clinic. That a certain proportion of gastric peptic ulcers do apparently develop into cancer is admitted by all pathologists interested in the study of