Success in the surgical treatment of carcinoma is attained only when complete removal of the primary malignant lesion is possible. Metastatic dissemination precludes other than palliative measures. Early diagnosis of intra-abdominal malignant disease, especially of carcinoma involving the hollow viscera, has been greatly facilitated by the roentgen ray. Demonstration of a significant filling defect, especially in the stomach or large bowel, as a rule is possible long before the malignant growth causing such a defect has produced a palpable or visible tumor, and frequently before marked cachexia has developed. The lay conception of cancer as a painful, debilitating, wasting disease is based on clinical pictures of advanced and often incurable malignant disease. The onset in any adult of dyspepsia which resists the usual methods of relief, and remains persistent or progresses, should at least evoke a suspicion of gastric carcinoma until another explanation is found. Similarly, marked or prolonged changes