Objective To explore the effect of lymph node metastases in gastric cancer on vagniae vasorum of gastric vessels,in order to provide evidence for the surgical treatment of gastric cancer.Methods The study included 90 specimens of left and right gastric arteries from 47 patients who underwent radical gastrectomy for carcinoma from January 2004 to 2006.All specimens were dealt with frozen section method,then they were stained with HE and immunohistochemical method respectively.Results Metastatic cancer cells were not found inside vagina vasorum in stage Ⅰ specimens.Cytokeratiu positive of tumor cens in or on vagina vasorum was showed on 25 slices from 10 tumors.Among them,2 slices from 1 tumor belonged to stage Ⅱ.8 slices from 3 tumors belonged to stage Ⅲ and 15 slices from 6 tumors belonged to stage Ⅳ.There was significant differences among cytokeratin positive rate in different stages of gastric cancer(P＜0.01).Conclusion Vaginae vasorum dissection is recommended when clearing lymph node around arteries in radical gastrectomy for carcinomas in stage Ⅱ above.