220 cases of gastric cancer were selected from Dakar Hospitals during seven years (1984-1991). This retrospective study confirms that gastric cancer is the most common cancer of the Gastro-intestinal tract (48.4%). The sex ratio was 2.7 (M/F) with mean age of 50 years. However, a steady progression of gastric cancer was noticed beginning at 40 years. Despite the introduction of upper gastro-intestinal endoscopy the classical evolved form was the most commonly found (83.2%). The associated lesions known to be premalignant were found in 22.7% of cases. The patients were seen with a long delay after the first symptoms. This is why we have long delays of diagnosis in our centers. 61.7% of them are seen 3 to 12 months after their first symptoms. In 70% of cases, lesions were found on antropyloric region. The most common histological type remain adenocarcinoma (90% of cases). Even though endoscopy has contributed to increase the incidence of gastric cancer, it did not allow to discover early gastric carcinoma.