11.   Patients with previous oesophageal or gastric surgery were excluded from the study.

12.   Previous gastric surgery was uncommon in all three groups and showed no significant difference.

13.   Previous gastric surgery was not a feature of our tumour group as has been suggested by previous studies.

14.   Hypopepsinogenaemia A is often found in patients with gastric atrophy and gastric surgery.

15.   None of these patients had had previous gastric surgery.

16.   Significantly more miners had had previous gastric surgery for benign disease, and significantly more miners smoked than did men from the general population.

17.   The cause for this is not clear but one factor could be the higher proportion of miners who had had gastric surgery.

18.   Exclusion criteria included previous gastric surgery, known bleeding diathesis, oral anticoagulation, or recent treatment with bismuth compounds, antisecretory agents, or antibiotics.