Abstract Examination of gastrectomy specimens has shown that atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia are widespread and have the same distribution in cancer of the stomach as in gastric ulcer affecting the body. Their distribution is restricted to the distal part of the stomach in pyloric ulcer. After gastrojejunostomy the distribution is also like that seen in cancer. There is a close association of widespread atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia with the development of cancer and a high cancer rate after stomach operation for benign conditions. The similarity of distribution of atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia in the stomach with body ulcer to that in cancer and after gastrojejunostomy points to a higher cancer risk in the stomach containing a body ulcer.