In the field of abdominal surgery, nothing is more important and interesting than making the diagnosis in a case of puzzling abdominal tumor. Often one cannot tell at all at first sight just what organ is involved. Arriving at the right anatomic diagnosis often depends on the careful elimination of several possible contiguous sites of disease.
In the upper abdomen, a variety of tumors are frequently encountered. In this region, where the stomach is the commonest organ primarily involved in the event of a new growth, a cancer of the pylorus or greater curvature has frequently been mistaken not only for malignant disease of other organs, but also for a movable kidney or spleen, a cyst of the pancreas, a retroperitoneal growth, an enlarged gallbladder, or an intraperitoneal abscess.
A skilled examination by use of the roentgen ray usually determines, fortunately, whether or not the stomach is at fault. The