Mortality from colorectal and breast cancer in gastric-surgery patients.

In a preliminary "years at risk" analysis of 5018 patients treated surgically for peptic ulcer at St. James Hospital, Balham, between 1940 and 1960, there was an increase in mortality from colorectal cancer 20 or more years after operation (1.6 fold; p less than 0.05) and an increase in mortality from breast cancer (4.0 fold; p less than 0.001). During the first 20 post-operative years there was an apparent decrease in mortality from both cancers (relative rate = 0.7 (NS) for colorectal and 0.5 (p less than 0.01), for breast cancer). The excess risk of colorectal cancer after a 20 year latency was almost entirely due to the 9.5 fold (p less than 0.001) excess risk in the 381 female gastric ulcer patients treated by Billroth I operation, and the 8.0 fold (p less than 0.05) excess mortality for the small group of 123 female patients who had vagotomy for duodenal ulcer. The apparent decreased risk during the first 20 post-operative years was entirely due to the 5-fold decrease (p less than 0.01) in risk in the 659 male patients treated by Billroth I surgery for gastric ulcer. The ratio of colon: rectal cancers was very much higher in gastric ulcer than in duodenal ulcer patients (5.6 compared to 1.8) and higher in females than in males (6.0 compared to 2.4). The excess risk of breast cancer after a 20 year latency was 4-fold in both gastric ulcer and duodenal ulcer patients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)