Abstract: Objective 　To discuss the clinical characteristics of recurrent gastric cancer and indications of reoperation. Methods 　Retrospective analysis of 27 patients undergoing reoperation for recurrent gastric carcinoma from 1998 to 2003 was made in terms of operative methods, postoperative complications, death rate and postoperative pathological characteristics. Results 　Adjacent organs were encroached of 18 cases in operation exploration, lymphoid nodes metastasis were observed in 9 patients, 7 cases survived over 5 years, 10 over 3 years, 16 over 1 years, and 11 cases died in 1 year. 6 cases died 1～6 months after operation were showed in simple exploratory survey. Conclusion 　The feature of recurrence gast ric cancer is invasion of adjacent organ. The lymph nodes were lied mainly in 1 、3 、11 、12 、13 、15 groups and endomesojejunum lymph nodes on primary anastomotic site ( ungrouping) . Those cases who suffered from recurrences of gastric carcinoma with invasion of adjacent organ but without distant multiple transfer can undergo a second operation to improve therapeutic effect .