A group of patients operated upon for ulcer disease of the stomach was selected from 1279 patients with this disease in which the nearest results of the surgical treatment were followed-up retrospectively. Seven patients died. The average period of postoperative treatment in the hospital was (17.7 +/- 1.5) days. Complications developed in 78 patients. A comparison of results of preoperative examinations with the conclusions of the morphologist according to data of studying the operative specimens has established low sensitivity of the current methods of diagnosing the cancerous nature of ulcers--as low as (72 +/- 5)%. The final diagnosis of a malignant ulcer was made in 81 patients, only in 58 of them the malignization was suspected before operation, in 23 patients the tumoral process was a "chance" finding. This fact speaks in favour of widening the indications for operative treatment of noncomplicated gastric ulcers.