To estimate how many of 1,302 patients with curative resection of gastric cancer died of recurrence or other diseases, the cumulative survival rate (act), relative survival rate (rl) and adjusted relative survival rate (adj) were analyzed. Adj was computed excluding gastric cancer death, because the death rate of this disease can not be ignored in the Japanese population. The death rate from gastric cancer can be estimated by [1.0-(adj)] and that from other causes by [(adj)-(act)]. It is more appropriate to calculate adj for the patients with mucosal or submucosal cancer, and rl can be substituted for adj for those with deeper invasion.