Totally Laparoscopic Gastrectomy for Gastric Cancer

Background and Objectives:

Recent studies have supported minimally invasive techniques as a viable alternative to open surgery in the treatment of gastric cancer. The goal of this study is to review our institution''s experience with totally laparoscopic gastrectomy for the treatment of both early- and advanced-stage gastric cancer.

Methods:

A retrospective study was conducted to examine the short-term outcomes of laparoscopic gastrectomy performed at Monmouth Medical Center between May 2003 and June 2012. We reviewed postoperative complications, surgical margins, number of resected lymph nodes, estimated blood loss, length of stay, narcotic use, and recurrence rate.

Results:

Forty patients were included in the study. There were 21 cases of adenocarcinoma, 15 cases of gastrointestinal stromal tumor, 2 cases of carcinoid, 1 case of small cell neuroendocrine tumor, and 1 case of squamous cell carcinoma. The mean operative time was 220 minutes (range, 67–450 minutes). The median length of stay was 6 days (range, 1–37 days). The mean number of harvested lymph nodes was 11. Early postoperative complications occurred in 7 patients and included anastomotic stricture, wound infection, intra-abdominal abscess, bowel obstruction, and esophageal pneumatosis. There were two deaths. The Kaplan-Meier 5-year overall and recurrence-free survival rate for all cases of adenocarcinoma was 63.2%.

Conclusions:

Totally laparoscopic gastrectomy is a reasonable option for the treatment of gastric malignancy, with early data showing acceptable survival rates and perioperative outcomes. Large-scale randomized trials are still needed to confirm oncologic equivalency to open gastrectomy in patients with advanced disease.     

Laparoscopic and open gastric resections for malignant lesions: A prospective comparative study

Background Whereas laparoscopy for benign diseases provides clear advantages over traditional surgery, the benefits of laparoscopic gastric resection for malignant diseases are less clear. The objectives of this study were to compare prospectively the clinical outcomes between completely laparoscopic and open total and partial gastrectomies for malignant diseases and to assess whether laparoscopic gastrectomies obtain adequate margins and follow oncologic principles.Methods Between April 1995 and March 2004, a prospective comparative study was performed comparing eight patients who underwent laparoscopic total gastrectomy with 11 patients who underwent open total gastrectomy, and 16 patients who underwent laparoscopic partial gastrectomy with 17 who patients underwent open partial gastrectomy. Stage, extent of lymphadenectomy, and long-term follow-up were examined. The intraoperative and postoperative details of the two groups were compared.Results The laparoscopic group patients had fewer intraoperative complications while the operative time was similar to that of the open group. Both ambulation and hospital stay were significantly shorter in the laparoscopic groups than in the open groups. The short-term morbidity was lower in the laparoscopic groups and there were no cases of death, whereas one case of postoperative death occurred after an open total gastrectomy. There was no need to convert to open surgery. The number of lymph nodes obtained in the laparoscopic and open procedures was not significantly different. In addition, all resected margins were tumor free in the laparoscopic group, whereas tumor involvement was presented in the margin of one specimen in the open group.Conclusions The totally laparoscopic approach to total and partial gastrectomies had good results and was proven to be a feasible and safe procedure. In addition, the laparoscopic procedures are superior to open surgeries in terms of faster postoperative recovery, shorter hospital stay, and better cosmetic outcomes. A totally laparoscopic approach for early and advanced gastric cancer can obtain adequate margins and follow oncologic principles.     

Laparoscopic Versus Open Subtotal Gastrectomy for Adenocarcinoma: A Case–Control Study

Objective  The aim of this study is to compare technical feasibility and oncologic efficacy of totally laparoscopic versus open subtotal gastrectomy for gastric adenocarcinoma. Background  Laparoscopic gastrectomy for adenocarcinoma is emerging in the West as a technique that may offer benefits for patients, although large-scale studies are lacking. Methods  This study was designed as a case-controlled study from a prospective gastric cancer database. Thirty consecutive patients undergoing laparoscopic subtotal gastrectomy for adenocarcinoma were compared with 30 patients undergoing open subtotal gastrectomy. Controls were matched for stage, age, and gender via a statistically generated selection of all gastrectomies performed during the same period of time. Patient demographics, tumor–node–metastasis (TNM) stage, histologic features, location of tumor, lymph node retrieval, recurrence, margins, and early and late postoperative complications were compared. Results  Tumor location and histology were similar between the two groups. Median operative time for the laparoscopic approach was 270 min (range 150–485 min) compared with median of 126 min (range 85–205 min) in the open group (p < 0.01). Hospital length of stay after laparoscopic gastrectomy was 5 days (range 2–26 days), compared with 7 days (range 5–30 days) in the open group (p = 0.01). Postoperative pain, as measured by number of days of IV narcotic use, was significantly lower for laparoscopic patients, with a median of 3 days (range 0–11 days) compared with 4 days (range 1–13 days) in the open group (p < 0.01). Postoperative early complications trended towards a decrease for laparoscopic versus open surgery patients (p = 0.07); however, there were significantly more late complications for the open group (p = 0.03). Short-term recurrence-free survival and margin status was similar between the two groups (p = not significant) with adequate lymph node retrieval in both groups. Conclusions  Laparoscopic subtotal gastrectomy for adenocarcinoma is comparable to the open approach with regard to oncologic principles of resection, with equivalent margin status and adequate lymph node retrieval, demonstrating technically feasibility and equivalent short-term recurrence-free survival. Additional benefits of decreased postoperative complications, decreased length of hospital stay, and decreased narcotic use make this a preferable approach for selected patients.     

腹腔镜胃癌外科的发展现状与思考

腹腔镜手术以其显著的微创优势。已成为外科医生治疗早期胃癌的首选方式之一。随着腹腔镜手术经验的不断积累．目前腹腔镜胃切除术的指征已逐渐从早期胃癌扩大到进展期胃癌。但是．由于缺乏长期疗效的循证医学证据支持．腹腔镜手术在进展期胃癌中的运用尚存争议。腹腔镜胃癌手术在技术层面的要求非常高．尤其在进行D2淋巴结清扫时。因此,在开展腹腔镜胃癌手术前．规范腹腔镜操作技术和流程的培训是必须的。     

Early experience with laparoscopic radical gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer

Use of the laparoscopic approach for the management of gastric cancer is still in the developmental phase. The authors present their experience with laparoscopic radical gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer. Between September 1997 and August 1999, four laparoscopic gastrectomies for gastric carcinoma were performed on two male and two female patients (mean age, 61.5 years). One D2 total radical gastrectomy and three D2 subtotal distal gastrectomies were performed, using a totally laparoscopic approach. Mean operative time was 210 minutes. There were no intraoperative complications. All four patients recovered uneventfully from surgery and began oral feeding on the third postoperative day. Median postoperative stay was 7 days (range, 6-9). All patients were alive 8 months to 3 years after the operation, with no cancer recurrences. This series shows that laparoscopic radical gastrectomy for moderately advanced cancers can produce good results in terms of safety and oncologic adequacy.     

Robot-assisted laparoscopic gastrectomy with D2 dissection for adenocarcinoma: initial experience with 17 patients

Robot-assisted gastrectomy has been practised so far in very few centres in the world. The aims of this study were to assess the feasibility of robot-assisted gastrectomy for adenocarcinoma with D2 lymph nodal dissection and to analyze our preliminary results. Between January 2006 and August 2008, as many as 17 patients (11 females, 6 males) underwent laparoscopic robot-assisted surgery for non-metastatic adenocarcinoma of the stomach by a 3-armed da Vinci^® Robotic Surgical System. The mean age of patients was 65.9 years. This series included eight patients with early gastric cancer (EGC) and nine with advanced gastric cancer (AGC). A 4/5 laparoscopic subtotal gastrectomy (LSG) with D2 nodal clearance was the procedure of choice for 16 distal cancers. Laparoscopic total gastrectomy (LTG) with D2 lymphadenectomy was performed for one AGC of the middle third of the stomach. No intraoperative complication was registered. Conversion to laparotomy was required in two patients with distal cancer. The mean operating time (excluding converted patients) was 352 min (348 for LSG). Morbidity consisted in one pancreatic leak that healed conservatively. One death occurred postoperatively for haemorragic stroke. On average, 25.5 ± 4 lymph nodes were collected (range 10–40). The resection margin was 6.4 ± 0.6 cm (range 4.2–8), and the margin was tumour free in all the specimens. The mean hospital stay of totally laparoscopic subtotal gastrectomy was 10 ± 1.2 days (range 8–13). The mean follow-up was 14 months (range 1–29) and three patients with AGC showed recurrence after LSG and died of disease. Robotics in gastrectomy for cancer is a feasible and safe procedure, yielding adequate D2 nodal clearance with respect of oncologic principles. Robotic techniques can represent a remarkable tool to improve laparoscopic surgeon’s ability and precision in small surgical fields, i.e. during D2 dissection. This study demonstrated the feasibility of robot-assisted gastrectomy for cancer although further studies are required to validate our preliminary results, especially as far as patients’ benefits are concerned.     

Criteria for training in laparoscopic gastric surgery: guidelines and experience of 30 cases

AIM: Although many studies on laparoscopic surgery of the stomach have been conducted so far, yet they have not provided surgeons with criteria for gradual and safe training with this technique. The results of gastric surgery with 30 patients operated on by laparoscopic approach are hereby described. The aim of this issue is to provide surgeons with guide lines for progressive training, respectful to patients, complying with oncologic criteria and useful to reduce conversion rate or drawbacks at the start of the experience. METHODS: The Authors made a retrospective analysis on 30 patients affected by gastric lesions, 5 benign chronic ulcers and 25 neoplasms of the stomach. Our guide lines suggest that the training begin with the treatment of benign lesions, followed by early gastric cancer (EGC) and by advanced gastric cancer (AGC) of the antrum. Our experience started with 4 laparoscopic subtotal distal gastrectomies (LSGs) for benign ulcer; independent of the guidelines hereby proposed 1 laparoscopic total gastrectomy (LTG) was done after the intraoperative finding of a benign ulcer of the lesser curve penetrating into the left hepatic lobe. The beginning of training included also 1 LSG for distal stromal tumor (GIST). Subsequently 13 early gastric cancers (EGC) were operated on: echoendoscopy could demonstrate 12 T1 m and 1 T1 sm and no evidence of nodal involvement. The diameter of EGCs was 1,3 cm on average ( range 0,7-4 cm), all were marked by Indian ink to allow performance of 10 LSGs and 3 LTGs. Moreover, 8 LSGs for advanced gastric carcinoma (AGC) of the antrum were carried out. The training in malignancies progressed with LTG for 2 non-Hodgkin gastric lymphomas; 1 lymphoma required conversion to laparotomy due to infiltration of the diaphragmatic crus. A D2 lymphadenectomy was associated to gastrectomy in adenocarcinomas. RESULTS: The feasibility of laparoscopic gastric surgery was confirmed by this study, with operating time of 240 minutes (range 150-360), intraoperative blood loss was 180 ml (range 100-250), and only 1 patient required blood transfusion for postoperative bleeding. The specific morbidity rate was 10% owing to duodenal leakage in 3 cases in the early phase of this study (3/30): 1 required laparotomy. The mortality rate was 3% due to 1 serious postoperative bleeding and acute hepatic failure in a patient with post-alcoholic cirrhosis. The conversion rate was 3% (1/30). The nasogastric tube was removed on the 4(th) postoperative day, and the oral intake started on the 6(th) postoperative day after a barium follow-through examination. The mean postoperative hospital stay was 16 days (range 10-25). The number of nodes retrieved was 18 on average and it improved with the experience: from the minimum of 9 nodes in benign ulcers, it grew to 20 in EGCs and to 25 in AGCs, so that this data confirmed the guide lines proposed in this issue . The histologic examination of EGC confirmed the data of echoendoscopy about nodal status. CONCLUSIONS: Laparoscopic surgery is a safe and feasible procedure both for benign and for malignant lesions of the stomach. The results analysed hereby suggest that at the start of training be treated patients affected by benign lesions, followed by patients with EGC and then by patients with AGC. For gastric cancers, the average number of 18 nodes harvested from each patient was adequate, complying with the requirements suggested by the latest TNM classification. This choice of progressive selection of patients for training represents a good means to get an optimal performance level, especially in view of the oncologic requirements, and can prevent surgeons from elevated conversion rates and disappointing outcomes at the beginning of experience.     

Long-term oncologic outcomes of a randomized controlled trial comparing laparoscopic versus open gastrectomy with D2 lymph node dissection for advanced gastric cancer

BackgroundLaparoscopy-assisted gastrectomy is a feasible and safe procedure for treating advanced gastric cancer in terms of short-term outcomes. However, concern about long-term oncologic outcomes has limited the adoption of laparoscopy-assisted gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer.MethodsWe launched a prospective randomized controlled trial comparing laparoscopic and open gastrectomy with D2 lymph node dissection for locally advanced gastric cancer to evaluate long-term oncologic feasibility. The 5-year overall survival, disease-free survival, and tumor recurrences have been determined on an intention-to-treat basis.ResultsBetween January 2010 and June 2012, a total of 328 patients with preoperative clinical stage T_2-4aN_0-3M₀ gastric cancer were enrolled in the trial. We excluded 6 patients with unresected tumor, and the remaining 322 patients were randomized to the laparoscopic group (162 patients) or the open group (160 patients) for radical surgery. One patient in laparoscopy-assisted gastrectomy and 4 patients in open gastrectomy were lost to follow-up immediately after discharge, leaving 317 patients (161 in laparoscopy-assisted gastrectomy and 156 in open gastrectomy) eligible for long-term analysis. The 5-year overall survival rate was 49.0% in the laparoscopic group and 50.7% in the open group, and the 5-year disease-free survival rate was 47.2% and 49.6% in the 2 groups, respectively. Kaplan–Meier curves for overall survival and disease-free survival showed no differences between the 2 groups. There was no difference in the 5-year tumor recurrence rate between the 2 procedures.ConclusionLaparoscopy-assisted gastrectomy can provide comparable long-term survival without an increase in recurrence and metastasis in treating advanced gastric cancer.     

Completely laparoscopic total and partial gastrectomy for benign and malignant diseases: a single institute's prospective analysis

BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic surgery for gastrointestinal benign disease has gained worldwide acceptance; totally laparoscopic surgery for malignant diseases remains controversial. The purposes of this study were to examine prospectively our experience with laparoscopic gastric resections, to evaluate the surgical outcomes, and to discuss the role of these procedures in the treatment of benign and malignant diseases of the stomach. To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest prospective study of totally laparoscopic total and partial gastrectomies in Western countries. STUDY DESIGN: Thirty-three patients who underwent totally laparoscopic gastric resection between April 1995 and January 2004 were studied prospectively. Eight patients underwent laparoscopic total gastrectomy and 25 patients had laparoscopic partial gastrectomy. There were 21 women and 12 men with a mean age of 71 +/- 10 years. RESULTS: Twenty-one patients (63.6%) were operated on for malignant diseases and 12 patients (36.4%) had benign lesions. Conversion to laparotomy was not required in any case. Mean operative time was 138 +/- 40 minutes and mean blood loss was 58 +/- 85 mL. There were no major intraoperative complications except for one splenectomy, and there were no perioperative deaths. Two postoperative complications occurred; one patient developed an intraperitoneal abscess with a small duodenal fistula after total gastrectomy and was treated by peritoneal lavage and drain placement. The other patient developed delayed gastric emptying after subtotal gastrectomy and was managed conservatively. Mean ambulation time and mean hospital stay were 2.3 +/- 0.7 days and 14.6 +/- 5 days, respectively. All resected margins were tumor free. The mean number of retrieved lymph nodes for the malignant lesions was 22 +/- 12 (range 10 to 53). CONCLUSIONS: This prospective trial demonstrated that totally laparoscopic total and partial gastric resections had good results and were feasible and safe procedures. In addition, we concluded that the totally laparoscopic approach for early and advanced gastric cancer can obtain adequate margins and follow oncologic principles.     

腹腔镜全胃切除术治疗进展期胃癌安全性与有效性的Meta分析

目的：系统评价腹腔镜全胃切除术治疗进展期胃癌的手术安全性和淋巴结清扫程度。 方法：计算机检索多个国内外文献数据库,收集腹腔镜全胃切除术对比开腹全胃切除术治疗进展期胃癌所有随机对照试验和回顾性研究,检索时间截止2014年3月。根据纳入和排除标准筛选文献、提取资料和进行质量评价,用RevMan 5.2软件进行Meta分析。 结果：最终纳入6篇文献,共1 115例,其中腹腔镜手术547例,开腹手术568例。Meta分析显示,与开腹全胃切除术相比,腹腔镜全胃切除术治疗进展期胃癌术后并发症少、术中出血量少、术后住院时间短,但手术时间较长（均P<0.05）;淋巴结清扫数目差异无统计学意义（P>0.05）。 结论：腹腔镜全胃切除术治疗进展期胃癌与开腹全胃切除术相比有一定的微创优势,手术安全性好,且淋巴结清扫程度相似。