We hear a great deal about the unexplained decrease in gastric cancer in this country over the past several years, mainly because it is the only good thing that has happened in gastrointestinal oncology in such a long time. But gastric cancer remains, of course, one of the most frequent forms of tumor, not only in Japan, Iceland, and Chile (where it may actually be on the increase), but also here at home.
Nelson's monograph shows how gastroscopic examination can make diagnostic effort more reliable, although he does not suggest that treatment will thereby become more effective.
The gastroscopist-oncologist is not so naïve as to believe that application of (gastroscopy) on a wide scale would make a great improvement in cancer mortality. However, he cannot help having faith that it would decrease morbidity in many patients in a disease which has resisted all efforts to produce some kind of diagnostic