Published online Apr 27, 2014. doi: 10.4240/wjgs.v6.i4.59
Revised: February 16, 2014
Accepted: March 13, 2014
Published online: April 27, 2014
Processing time: 173 Days and 5.1 Hours
AIM: To investigate the short-term benefits of laparoscopic radical gastrectomy (LARG) and open radical gastrectomy (ORG) in patients with gastric cancer.
METHODS: A total of 400 patients with gastric cancer aged ≤ 65 years who were treated at General Hospital of Lanzhou Military Region were enrolled. Among these, 200 patients underwent LARG between October 2008 and August 2012 (LARG group); and 200 patients underwent ORG between March 2000 and September 2008 (ORG group). The short-term therapeutic benefits between the two groups were analyzed.
RESULTS: The LARG procedure offered significantly better benefits to the patients compared to the ORG procedure, including less intraoperative blood loss (103.1 ± 19.5 mL vs 163.0 ± 32.9 mL, P < 0.0001), shorter postoperative hospital stay (6.8 ± 1.2 d vs 9.5 ± 1.6 d, P < 0.0001), less frequent occurrence of postoperative complications (6.5% vs 13.5%, P = 0.02), shorter time to mobilization (1.0 ± 0.3 vs 3.3 ± 0.4 d, P < 0.0001), shorter time to bowel opening (3.3 ± 0.7 d vs 4.5 ± 0.7 d, P < 0.0001), and shorter time to normal diet (3.0 ± 0.4 vs d 3.8 ± 0.5 d, P < 0.0001). However, LARG required a longer time to complete than the ORG procedure (192.3 ± 20.9 min vs 180.0 ± 26.9 min, P < 0.0001).
CONCLUSION: Compared to ORG, LARG is safer, more effective, and less invasive for treating gastric cancer, with better short-term efficacy.
Core tip: We compared patients who underwent laparoscopic-assisted radical gastrectomy (LARG) with those who underwent open radical surgery (ORG) in terms of intra- and postoperative benefits. LARG was successfully completed without needing to convert to laparotomy in all patients, and no residual cancerous tissues were noted in the surgical margins. LARG offered the patients several better short-term benefits compared to the ORG procedure, such as less intraoperative blood loss, shorter hospitalization time, shorter time to mobilization, and shorter time to bowel opening. Additionally, LARG was also associated with fewer postoperative complications.