• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.93-97
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• 2016

Several prospective studies on laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy for early gastric cancer have been initiated, but no prospective study evaluating laparoscopy-assisted total gastrectomy or laparoscopy-assisted proximal gastrectomy has been completed to date. A non-randomized confirmatory trial was commenced in April 2015 to evaluate the safety of laparoscopy-assisted total gastrectomy and laparoscopy-assisted proximal gastrectomy for clinical stage I gastric cancer. A total of 245 patients will be accrued from 42 Japanese institutions over 3 years. The primary endpoint is the proportion of patients with anastomotic leakage. The secondary endpoints are overall survival, relapse-free survival, proportion of patients with completed laparoscopy-assisted total gastrectomy or laparoscopy-assisted proximal gastrectomy, proportion of patients with conversion to open surgery, adverse events, and short-term clinical outcomes. The UMIN Clinical Trials Registry number is UMIN000017155.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.232-236
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• 2012

Purpose: With an increase in life expectancy, more elderly patients are presenting with gastric cancer. As a result it is yet be resolved whether laparoscopy assisted distal gastrectomy is a suitable treatment for elderly patients with early gastric cancer. This study retrospectively compared surgical outcomes of laparoscopy assisted distal gastrectomy between elderly and nonelderly patients with gastric cancer. Materials and Methods: The study group was comprised of 316 patients who underwent laparoscopy assisted distal gastrectomy between April 2005 and December 2010. Of these patients, 93 patients whose ages were 65 years or more were compared with 223 patients who were younger. Results: There were no differences in the short term outcome or minor complication rate between the elderly patients and the nonelderly patients. The hospital stay was significantly longer and the major complication rate was significantly higher for the elderly patients compared with nonelderly patients. Conclusions: Laparoscopy assisted distal gastrectomy for early gastric cancer in the elderly patients had comparable operation time and blood loss with the nonelderly group. However, the safety and advantage of laparoscopy assisted distal gastrectomy in the elderly patients need to be further studied in higher volume trials.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.26-33
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• 2013

Purpose: The aims are to: (i) display the multidimensional learning curve of totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy, and (ii) verify the feasibility of totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy after learning curve completion by comparing it with laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy. Materials and Methods: From January 2005 to June 2012, 247 patients who underwent laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy (n=136) and totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy (n=111) for early gastric cancer were enrolled. Their clinicopathological characteristics and early surgical outcomes were analyzed. Analysis of the totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy learning curve was conducted using the moving average method and the cumulative sum method on 180 patients who underwent totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy. Results: Our study indicated that experience with 40 and 20 totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy cases, is required in order to achieve optimum proficiency by two surgeons. There were no remarkable differences in the clinicopathological characteristics between laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy and totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy groups. The two groups were comparable in terms of open conversion, combined resection, morbidities, reoperation rate, hospital stay and time to first flatus (P>0.05). However, totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy had a significantly shorter mean operation time than laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy (P<0.01). We also found that intra-abdominal abscess and overall complication rates were significantly higher before the learning curve than after the learning curve (P<0.05). Conclusions: Experience with 20~40 cases of totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy is required to complete the learning curve. The use of totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy after learning curve completion is a feasible and timesaving method compared to laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.44-50
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• 2013

Purpose: Laparoscopic gastrectomy has been adopted for the treatment of gastric cancer, and despite the technical difficulties, totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy has been considered less invasive than laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy. Although there have been many reports regarding the feasibility and safety of totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy at large volume centers, few reports have been conducted at low-volume centers. The purpose of this study is to try to assess the feasibility and safety of totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy at a low volume center through the analysis of short-term outcomes of totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy compared with laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy. Materials and Methods: The clinical data and short-term surgical outcomes of 35 patients who had undergone laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy between April 2007 and March 2010, and 37 patients who underwent totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy between April 2010 and August 2012 were retrospectively reviewed. Results: There was no significant difference in the demographic and clinical data. However the reconstruction method and extent of lymphadenectomy showed statistically significant differences. Operation time and estimated blood loss did not show significant differences. Surgical and medical complications did not show significant differences but postoperative courses including time-to-first oral intake and postoperative hospital stay were significantly increased. Conclusions: Our study shows that totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy is technically feasible at a low volume center. Therefore, totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy can be considered as one of the surgical treatment for early gastric cancer. However the possibility that totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy may have less benefit should also be considered.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.120-125
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• 2012

Purpose: Mechanical stapler is regarded as a good alternative to the hand sewing technique, when used in gastric reconstruction. The circular stapling method has been widely applied to gastrectomy (open orlaparoscopic), for gastric cancer. We illustrated and compared the hand-sutured method to the circular stapling method, for Billroth-II, in patients who underwent laparoscopy assisted distal gastrectomy for gastric cancer. Materials and Methods: Between April 2009 and May 2011, 60 patients who underwent laparoscopy assisted distal gastrectomy, with Billroth-II, were enrolled. Hand-sutured Billroth-II was performed in 40 patients (manual group) and circular stapler Billroth-II was performed in 20 patients (stapler group). Clinicopathological features and post-operative outcomes were evaluated and compared between the two groups. Results: Nosignificant differences were observed in clinicopathologic parameters and post-operative outcomes, except in the operation times. Operation times and anastomosis times were significantly shorter in the stapler group (P=0.004 and P<0.001). Conclusions: Compared to the hand-sutured method, the circular stapling method can be applied safely and more efficiently, when performing Billroth-II anastomosis, after laparoscopy assisted distal gastrectomy in patients with gastric cancer.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.97-101
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• 2007

We report our experience with a case of performing laparoscopy-assisted total gastrectomy along with pancreas-preserving splenectomy for treating early gastric cancer. laparoscopy-assisted total gastrectomy was planned for a 62-year-old male patient with a double early gastric cancer located in the upper and lower third of the stomach. Five trocars were placed and we used a harmonic scalpel to dissect the greater curvature. Enlarged splenic hilar lymph node was encountered and they were proved to be metastasis by frozen section biopsy. We then performed total gastrectomy with pancreas-preserving splenectomy for the purpose of completely dissecting the lymph nodes along the splenic artery and splenic hilum. We created a 4 cm sized longitudinal mini-laparotomy below the xiphoid process to remove the specimen, and anastomosis was done via the Roux-en-Y method. The patient was discharged on the 9th postoperative days after an uneventful recovery. Our experience shows that laparoscopy-assisted total gastrectomy with pancreas-preserving splenectomy is a relatively safe procedure for treating upper third early gastric cancer with metastatic splenic hilar lymph nodes.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.49-52
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• 2012

Through the advent of surgical techniques and the improvement of laparoscopic tools including the ultrasonic activated scissor, laparoscopic gastrectomy has been increasingly used in far more cases of benign or malignant gastric lesions for the benefit of patients without compromising therapeutic outcomes. Even though possible complications provoked by the ultrasonic activated scissor can be prevented during the procedure with increasing advanced laparoscopic experience and supervision, unexpected late complications after the operations rarely occur. An extremely rare case of left incarcerated diaphragmatic hernia of the transverse colon developed in an 81-year-old female patient as a late complication, 8 months after laparoscopy-assisted total gastrectomy for gastric cancer, with laparoscopy successfully resumed and without the need to sacrifice any portion of the bowel.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.18-25
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• 2012

Purpose: Recently, laparoscopy-assisted gastrectomy (LAG) has been widely accepted modality for early gastric cancer in Korea. The indication of LAG may be extended in an experienced institution. In our institution, the first case of laparoscopy-assisted gastrectomy (LAG) for gastric cancer was performed in May 1998. We retrospectively reviewed the long-term oncologic outcomes over 12 years to clarify the feasibility of LAG for gastric cancer. Materials and Methods: The authors retrospectively analyzed 753 patients who underwent LAG for gastric cancer, from May 1998 to August 2010. We reviewed clinicopathological features, postoperative outcomes, mortality and morbidity, recurrence, and survival of LAG for gastric cancer. Results: During the time period, 3,039 operations for gastric cancer were performed. Among them, 753 cases were done by LAG (24.8%). There were 69 cases of total gastrectomy, 682 subtotal gastrectomies, and 2 proximal gastrectomies. According to TNM stage, 8 patients were in stage 0, 619 in stage I, 88 in stage II, and 38 in stage III. The operation-related complications occurred in 77 cases (10.2%). Median follow-up period was 56.2 months (range 0.7~165.6 months). Twenty-five patients (3.3%) developed recurrence, during the follow-up period. The overall 5-year and disease free survival rates were 97.1% and 96.3%, respectively. Conclusions: The number of postoperative complications and survival rates of our series were comparable to the results from that of other reports. The authors consider LAG to be a feasible alternative for the treatment of early gastric cancer. However, rationale for laparoscopic surgery in advanced gastric cancer has yet to be determined.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.164-171
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• 2013

Purpose: Laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy for early gastric cancer has gained acceptance and popularity worldwide. However, laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer is still controversial. Therefore, we propose this prospective randomized controlled multi-center trial in order to evaluate the safety and feasibility of laparoscopy assisted D2-gastrectomy for advanced stage gastric cancer. Materials and Methods: Patients undergoing distal gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer staged cT2/3/4 cN0/1/2/3a cM0 by endoscopy and computed tomography are eligible for enrollment after giving their informed consent. Patients will be randomized either to laparoscopyassisted distal gastrectomy or open distal gastrectomy. Sample size calculation revealed that 102 patients are to be included per treatment arm. The primary endpoint is the non-compliance rate of D2 dissection; relevant secondary endpoints are three-year disease free survival, surgical and postoperative complications, hospital stay and unanimity rate of D2 dissection evaluated by reviewing the intraoperative video documentation. Discussion: Oncologic safety is the major concern regarding laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer. Therefore, the non-compliance rate of clearing the N2 area was chosen as the most important parameter for the technical feasibility of the laparoscopic procedure. Furthermore, surgical quality will be carefully reviewed, that is, three independent experts will review the video records and score with a check list. For a long-term result, disease free survival is considered a secondary endpoint for this trial. This study will offer promising evidence of the feasibility and safety of Laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer. Trial Registration: NCT01088204 (international), NCCCTS-09-448 (Korea).

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.105-110
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• 2014

Purpose: The advantages of totally laparoscopic surgery in early gastric cancer (EGC) are unproven, and some concerns remain regarding the oncologic safety and technical difficulty. This study aimed to evaluate the technical feasibility and clinical benefits of totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy (TLDG) for the treatment of gastric cancer compared with laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy (LADG). Materials and Methods: A retrospective review of 211 patients who underwent either TLDG (n=134; 63.5%) or LADG (n=77; 36.5%) for EGC between April 2005 and October 2013 was performed. Clinicopathologic features and surgical outcomes were analyzed and compared between the groups. Results: The operative time in the TLDG group was significantly shorter than that in the LADG group (193 [range, 160~230] vs. 215 minutes [range, 170~255]) (P=0.021). The amount of blood loss during TLDG was estimated at 200 ml (range, 100~350 ml), which was significantly less than that during LADG, which was estimated at 400 ml (range, 400~700 ml) (P<0.001). The hospital stay in the TLDG group was shorter than that in the LADG group (7 vs. 8 days, P<0.001). One patient from each group underwent laparotomic conversion. Two patients in the TLDG group required reoperation: one for hemostasis after intraabdominal bleeding and 1 for repair of wound dehiscence at the umbilical port site. Conclusions: TLDG for distal EGC is a technically feasible and safe procedure when performed by a surgeon with sufficient experience in laparoscopic gastrectomy and might provide the benefits of reduced operating time and intraoperative blood lossand shorter convalescence compared with LADG.