Eight cases of early gastric cancer (EGC) (histological diagnosis on the resected specimens) were detected Type III (excavated; seven out of eight cases). In three endoscopies. They constituted 3.3% of the gastric cancers observed (239 cases). The most frequent type of EGC was Type III (excavated: seven out of eight cases). In three patients the diagnosis was made only at a second examination, since the first had been negative for malignancy; at the follow-up examination in these cases, the lesion seemed to have healed. The operation was therefore carried out only on the basis of the histological interpretation of endoscopic biopsies.