Preoperative gastrointestinal series (GIS) have been used to assess the precise localization and extent of early and minimally advanced gastric cancers, which are sometimes difficult to define en face by endoscopy. The purpose of this study was to relate various GIS manifestations of gastric cancer with the pathological condition. We reviewed 99 gastric cancer cases (107 lesions), which were treated between 1992 and 1995, in which the lesions were depicted by GIS assisted by a nasogastric tube. The pathological conditions were determined from the resected specimens. Differences in anatomic location and in some morphological characteristics contribute to differences in histological classification. We conclude that lesion depiction by GIS assisted by nasogastric tube reflects the cancer's pathological characteristics, including histological type, malignant cycle, and modification by desmoplastic reaction.