Peptic Ulcer of the Greater Curvature of the Stomach

Abstract

Lesions of the greater curvature of the stomach are so commonly neoplastic and benign ulcers are so extremely rare that a diagnosis of a benign ulcer by the roentgenologist, clinician, or surgeon, is never justified. The danger of such a diagnosis is well illustrated by a case presented by Sproull (1). The surgeon, his assistant, and the hospital pathologist all agreed that the lesion appeared to be benign and it was accordingly removed by a simple V-shaped incision. On microscopic examination, however, it was shown to be malignant, and two years later a large annular carcinoma was found at the site of the resection by the roentgenologist and later by the surgeon. It was inoperable at this time and the patient died shortly after the second operation. Matthews (2), in presenting two original cases in 1935, reviewed the literature and collected 4,603 examples of peptic ulcer. Of these, 139 or 3.0 per cent were found on the greater curvature, but as none of them was studied histologically, the real percentag...