We investigated whether or not the survival rate after curative gastrectomy was related to the total number of lymph nodal metastases and the frequency of the metastases (number of nodes with metastases among number of dissected nodes) in 433 patients with carcinoma of the stomach. Of these patients, 45.3 per cent had lymph nodal metastases, and of a total of 10,130 dissected lymph nodes, 13.0 per cent had metastases. The present findings suggest that both the number and frequency of lymph nodal metastases are closely related to other prognostic factors, such as depth of invasion, histologic type, gross findings, histologic staging and vascular invasion. The five year survival rate significantly decreased as the number and frequency of metastases increased. Thus, it appears the number and frequency of involved lymph nodes are parameters of prognostic significance.