Authors provided a comparative study of early gastric cancers (EGC) which were found in the Cancer Research Centre of the Academy of Medical Sciences of USSR (Group A) and in the Central Institute of Cancer Research of the Academy of Sciences of GDR (Group B). The most frequent EGC-type in group B was type II, while types I and III were more frequent in group A. The rate of lymph node metastases in group A was 4,54% versus 16,2% in group B. Multicentric cancers were more often found in group A. These findings strengthen the opinion that early gastric cancer is not a uniform biological entity. Accuracy of x-ray and gastroscopic diagnoses was higher in group A. This fact surely contributes to the better prognosis of early gastric cancer in this group.