The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between serum gastrin and resectability in patients with gastric cancer, and to see whether any difference could be demonstrated according to the histologic type and survival. Between 1994 and 1996 records of 34 consecutive patients with gastric carcinoma serum gastrin levels were measured and correlated with age, gender, lymph node positiveness, metastasis, Lauren's classification and survival. The mean serum gastrin level of patients was 98.38 pg/ml (normal range: 25-125 pg/ml). Twenty-six of 34 patients (76.5%) had normal gastrin levels and eight patients (23.5%) had high gastrin levels. Sixty-five per cent of patients with normogastrinaemia underwent resection with extended lymphadenectomy, while 38% patients with hypergastrinaemia underwent extended resection. All the hypergastrinaemic patients died within the first year, but in the normogastrinaemic group one, two and five-year survival rates were 39%, 23% and 4%, respectively. Even though these results are not statistically significantly different in regard to preoperative serum gastrin levels, we conclude that preoperative hypergastrinaemia is associated with unresectability and poor survival in patients with gastric cancer.