A total of 1, 236 cases of gastric cancer operated at Hiraka general hospital during the 14 years from 1975 to 1988, were analyzed and the following results were obtained.
1. There was a distinct tendency to increase in the numbers of early-staged cancer cases and patients over 70 years of age.
Any decrease in the number of operated gastric cancers could not be obeseverd during this period.
2. The ratio of patients aged over 70 years increased to reach 26.4% recently and the ratio of early staged cancer increased to 59.3% in 1988.
3. The over all resection rate was 90.8% and curative resection was performed in 85.2% of resected cases.
4. The cumulative 10-year survival rate in curative resected cases was 74.0%.
5. The rate of the multiple cancer cases was as high as 5.0%.

A total of 417 operated cases of colorectal cancer at Hiraka General Hospital during the 15-year period from 1974 to 1988 were analyzed and the following results were obtained.
1. There was a distinct tendency to increase in the numbers of resectable cases. By region, cases of cancers in sigmoid colon and upper third of rectum (S+Rs) and right side colon (C+A) were on the rise.
2. The ratio of patients aged over 70 years increased to reach 36 % recently. But the ratio of early stage cancer cases was 7.1 % on the average.
3. The over all resection rate was 90.6 %, and curative resection was performed in 78.5 % of colon cancer cases and 82.0 % of rectal cancer cases respectively.
4. The cumulative 10-year survival rate in curative resected cases was 74.7 % for colon cancer and 70.8 % for rectal cancer.
5. The rate of multiple cancer cases was as high as 13.4 %.

In this study, disease aspects and background factors affecting prognosis were reviewed and analyzed in a total of 45 aged patients (≥70 years old) who had undergone emergency operations for acute abdomen.
1) Colorectal cancer accounted for 70 per cent of malignant disorders. All the colorectal cancer patients but one had non-curative operations.
2) The incidence of perforated appendicitis was high (58.7%) as in the past. But no great difference was found in clinical course between aged patients and younger patients.
3) Incarcerated hernia occurred only in females advanced in years (mean age: 80.6 years). All the patients with incarcerated hernia have been suffering from prolapse long since but they had not been informed that they were at risk.
4) Preoperative complications were found in 81.8% of all the cases. Arrythmia, hypertension, and diabetes were observed most frequantly.
5) The most common postoperative complication was pneumonia. Preoperative complications were well controllable and causead no serious postoperative complications.
6) The one-year uneventful survival rate was 93.5% in the patients without malignacy. We concluded that this percentage was satisfactory, considering that their mean age was 76.8 years. On the other hand, in the patients with malignancy, the establishment of medical check-ups for early detection of colorectal cancer would have resulted in better prognosis.

A total of 146 patients with breast cancer were operated on at our hospital between April 1991 and January 1997. The number of those patients who had undergone mass screening was 37. Those 37 patients were divided into three groups: 18 patients with interval breast cancer (the interval group), 12 patients having breast cancer detected by mass screeing (the mass screening group) and 7 patients diagnosed with breast cancer in outpatients clinics during the course of periodic routine examinations (the outpatient clinic group). To investingate the limitations and beneficial effects of mass screening programs consisting of observation and palpation, seven clinicopathological factors were analyzed, with special attention paid to tumor doubling times. These factors were % body fat, tumor size at the time of mass screening calculated from the age-dependent tumor doubling times, interval between mass screening and surgery, actual tumor size at the time of surgery, histological type, extent of nodal involvement and pathological staging. The percentage of early breast cancer was higher for these groups than for the other 109 patients, who had never undergone mass screening (59.4% versus 32.1%, p<0.01). However, the following limitations were found. In mass screening, it was difficult to detect masses smaller than 2 cm in diameter. Analysis of th data for the interval group showed that it was possible for women to find a breast mass measuring around 2cm through self-examination and that mass screening had no difinite advantage over the self-examination. In addition, it was found that earlier detection was called for in outpatient clinics in terms of the nodal status. We concluded that the benefits of the currently organized mass screening programs were doubtful. Women should be educated about the importance of self-examining their breasts and taught how to practice the self-examination. Goals should include finding women who considered at high risk and detecting breast cancer 1 cm or smaller in diameter during the course of periodic examinations at medical institutions.