From 1964 to 1974, 122 patients were treated for gastric cancer; none of these patients received chemotherapy; 13 of this group were lost to follow-up. In 34 patients, the disease was too far advanced for surgical resection. Their survival ranged from 0.1 month to 7.5 months with a median survival of 1.1 months. Seventy-four patients were resected for cure; 60 patients underwent a subtotal gastrectomy. Survival ranged from 0 to 72 months with a median of eight months. Fourteen patients had total gastrectomies; survival ranged from 0.1 to 72 months with a median of 5.5 months. Only six of the resected patients had negative lymph nodes; their survival ranged from four to 36 months. In this series there were 11 operative deaths and only seven patients survived five years. Thirty-one patients who had resections were treated with adjuvant chemotherapy consisting of 0.5 g 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) IV on days 1, 8, 15, etc, and hydroxyurea (HU), 80 mg/kg per os (p.o.), on days 4, 11, 18, etc. This group has a range of survival from three to 164 months and a median survival of 25 months. Fifteen consecutive patients with nonresectable gastric cancer were treated with HU-FU with a survival of one to 30 months and a median survival of eight months. In patients with measurable disease, objective regression was clearly demonstrated.