How to examine anastomotic integrity intraoperatively in totally laparoscopic radical gastrectomy? Methylene blue testing prevents technical defect-related anastomotic leaks

Table 1 Demographic, surgical, and tumor characteristics of patients according to whether an intraoperative methylene blue testing was performed or not

Variable		IMBT group (211 cases)	Control group (302 cases)	χ2	P value
Gender	Male	130	182	0.095	0.759
	Female	81	120
Age (yr)	< 75	143	196	0.457	0.499
	≥ 75	68	106
BMI (kg/m2)	< 25	155	211	0.784	0.376
	≥ 25	56	91
Preoperative complications	Present absent	88123	111191	1.282	0.257
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy	Present absent	43168	61241	0.003	0.960
Degree of tumor differentiation	High	72	92	0.785	0.672
	Medium	95	142
	Low	44	68
Postoperative tumor pathological stage1	I	32	62	3.298	0.192
	II	62	94
	III	117	146
Surgeon’s experience	< 50 cases	21	24	0.624	0.429
	≥ 50 cases	190	278
Mode of surgery	TLTG	101	146	0.025	0.875
	TLDG	111	156
Operation time	< 4h	143	189	1.465	0.226
	≥ 4h	68	113
Amount of bleeding ≥ 400 mL	Present	79	100	1.024	0.312
	Absent	132	202

¹According to the 8^th AJCC TNM staging system for gastric cancer. IMBT: Intraoperative methylene blue testing; TLTG: Totally laparoscopic total gastrectomy; BMI: Body mass index; TLDG: Totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy.