Determinants of prognosis after hepatic resection for metastasis from gastric cancer were studied in a retrospective series of 21 patients, including four who survived more than 5 years after surgery. All patients underwent apparently curative resection. Synchronous or metachronous resection, age, sex, histological type, depth of invasion, lymphatic and venous invasion, lymph node involvement and number of hepatic metastases were analysed as prognostic factors for survival. Serosal invasion was the only significant determinant at synchronous resection. Both lymphatic and venous invasion were significant prognostic factors available after histological examination. Combined analysis of these two histological variables revealed that patients positive for both were at a significantly higher risk for both overall and disease-free survival. It is suggested that hepatic resection should be attempted in patients with synchronous or metachronous metastases if there is no serosal invasion by the primary gastric tumour, and if the primary tumour has neither venous nor lymphatic invasion in the case of metachronous metastases.