Discrepancies in the five-year survival rates after treatment of gastric cancer between the West and the East have been attributed to differences in the biological behavior of the tumor or in the incidence of early cancer. Alternatively, the better staging system and the national standardization of the diagnosis and treatment used in the East may explain their findings. Poor definition of stages and curability, scarce interest in standardization of techniques, and lack of basic information in many pathological reports are frequent in Western countries. Between May 1988 and April 1991 a prospective study on a consecutive series of 89 patients diagnosed of gastric carcinoma in the Hospital "Príncipe de Asturias" using the directions given by the Japanese Research Society for Gastric Cancer has been made. Our results support the use of the Japanese system in a General Hospital of our country and confirm its accuracy in defining the type of surgery performed, the later being its main advantage over the TNM staging system.