Purpose: This study tried to find the differences between gastric cancer in young and elderly, in addition through the importance of the presence of the upper gastrointestinal bleeding, with two examples of clinical cases.

Methods: Two groups of patients divided by age were compared. The first group consisted of 13 cases of patients aged between 32 and 41, and the second consisted of 15 cases, aged 80 to 87 years. The variables considered were: sex, personal history and family history, onset-admission interval, number of days of hospitalization after surgery, the number of days until discharge, personal history/ family history, tumor location, admission diagnosis, intervention type, value hemoglobin on admission, the way externalizing hemorrhage appeared, stage, tumor type/ degree of differentiation of its kind lymph dissection, postoperative complications and deaths.

Results: The interval from symptom onset to hospital admission was higher in young people with a greater weight loss and malignant ulcer history or upload family were smokers, but apparently with a lower complication rate. In the elderly, the anemic syndrome was the main event and the complications were more related to comorbidities.

Conclusions: Prolonged gastric distress in young patients, associated with smoking, personal history of ulcer and family history of neoplasia should guide the diagnosis to gastric cancer. Anemic syndrome in the elderly may be due to the gastric cancer, and complications are due to comorbidities.