To evaluate retrospectively the surgical treatment of patients with gastric stump cancer following gastrectomy for benign disease, we reviewed 52 patients operated on at the National Cancer Centre, Tokyo, between 1962 and 1988. Resection was carried out in 47 patients (90 per cent) and with curative intent in 36 (69 per cent). Stage distribution was: stage 1, 15 patients; stage 2, 5; stage 3, 9; stage 4, 23. In 36 cases curatively resected, 32 had completion total gastrectomy and four had subtotal resection. An R1 resection was performed in 11 patients and an R2 in 25. We had two hospital deaths and a 5-year survival rate excluding hospital deaths of 39 per cent. The 5-year survival rates of resected cases, curative cases and those having metastatic nodes were 43 per cent, 57 per cent and 29 per cent respectively. Radical resection is a reasonable treatment for gastric stump cancer as it is for primary cancer of the stomach.