The relationship between DNA ploidy and lymph node metastasis was determined in 40 cases of gastric cancer confined to the submucosa (with lymph node metastasis 20 cases and without 20 cases). The DNA ploidy patterns were classified as follows: Type D, Type A1 and Type A2. Of the 20 cases with lymph node metastasis, 1 was Type D, 7 were Type A1 and 12 were Type A2. The likelihood of lymph node metastasis was 12.5% (1/8) for Type D, 43.8% (7/16) for Type A1 and 75.0% (12/16) for Type A2. It is concluded that although gastric cancer confined to the submucosa is classified as early one, analysis of DNA content places such tumors with lymph node metastasis into the advanced cancer category.