IT IS WELL known that the operative mortality rate following gastrectomy has dropped to one third or one half of the figure encountered fifteen to twenty years ago.1 The technic of performing gastrectomy and the ability of the surgeon have changed very little indeed during this period. It is obvious, therefore, that a better understanding of the physiology of the gastrointestinal tract with special consideration of preoperative and postoperative care is the major factor responsible for the improvement in the immediate results of gastrectomy. In preparation of this report we have studied material representing 191 gastrectomies for benign and for malignant disease in the Illinois Research Hospital during the past thirteen years. As is usually the case in other reports, our studies on postoperative complications and causes of death have made certain precautions quite obvious, which if utilized might have resulted in a greatly reduced number of complications and