[Cancer of the gastric stump. An independent disease picture? Consequences for follow-up].

In a retrospective study we analysed the clinical course of 13 patients from the St Clara's Hospital who had a gastric-stump cancer between the years of 1975 and 1989 and compared our figures with the literature. Our figures showed the average age of the patient at their first operation for the gastric ulcer was 35 and, at the second operation for gastric cancer the average age was 68.8 patients were male and 5 were female. When the tumour was discovered it was already advanced. 11 patients had a Grade 3 or 4 tumour. Out of our 13 patients, 7 had to undergo a total removal of the gastric remnant. 1 patient underwent a partial gastrectomy and, 3 patients had a gastrostomy or jejunostomy performed. For 2 patients the tumour was seen to be so advanced that no palliative procedure could be undertaken. When this study was undertaken only 1 patient remained alive and this patient had survived 7 years after removal of the gastric remnant. Because the likelihood of cancer occurring in the gastric stump is four times more frequent than expected we recommend that the patient is endoscoped 20 years after the initial operation and then again regularly every 3 to 5 years after this.