E arly detection of gastric cancer by upper gastrointestinal series, endoscopy, operative techniques of extensive lymph node dissection, and postoperative chemotherapy has led to improved survival rates. However, a large number of patients with stage IV gastric cancer undergo surgery for purposes of palliation, and the 5-year survival rate remains around 10% [1]. In one study, chemotherapy with mitomycin C and long-term continuous administration of 1-(2-tetrahydrofuryl)-5-fluorouracil (tegafur) in the early postoperative period was found to improve the 5-year survival rate for patients with stage III or IV gastric carcinoma [2], whereas in another study, no such effect was noted for stage IV patients [3]. UFT, a combination of tegafur and uracil in a molar ratio of 1:4, was developed as an antitumor drug by Fujii et al [4]. Both animal studies and clinical trials [5] revealed higher levels of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in the blood and in tumor tissues in cases with UFT, compared with findings with tegafur or 5-FU. Using an in oivo chemosensitivity test, we found UFT to be more effective than 5-FU and its analogues for treating patients with gastric cancer [6,7]. We report herein the effects of mitomycin C plus UFT as postoperative therapy for gastrectomized patients with stage IV gastric cancer. All 54 patients included in this trial had stage IV gastric cancer and had undergone gastric resection. These patients, who were treated from April 1983 to February 1985, were randomly assigned to either regimen A or B. Regimen A consisted of mitomycin C, 20-mg intravenous injection on the day of operation and 10 mg on day 1 after surgery, and tegafur, 600 mg by mouth daily for 2 years starting 2 weeks after the operation, whereas that of regimen B was mitomycin C in the same dose as that of regimen A, and UFT, 600 mg by mouth daily for 2 years. Patients selected for the study had to have the following: (1) a histologic diagnosis of gastric cancer; (2) a macroscopic diagnosis of a stage IV tumor upon completion of the surgical procedure; (3) age under 76 years; (4) no evident synchronous or metachronous double cancer; and (5) adequate organ system function (leukocyte count greater than 4,000/mm 3, platelet count greater than 100,000/ram 3, serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase and serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase levels less than 100 U, and protein-negative urine). Fur-