title: Laparoscopy-assisted pylorus-preserving gastrectomy with quality controlled lymph node dissection in gastric cancer operation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Pylorus-preserving gastrectomy (PPG) with extensive lymph node dissection is useful for treatment of early gastric cancer with preservation of function. This technique could be improved by using laparoscopy-assisted gastrectomy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between September 2000 and September 2004, 109 patients with T1 gastric cancer underwent surgical treatment; 72 underwent laparoscopy-assisted PPG (LAPPG) and 37 underwent conventional PPG (CPPG). Total numbers of dissected lymph nodes, retrieval at each lymph node station, intraoperative blood loss, and operation times were used as measures of the quality of lymph node dissection to compare the procedures. Continuous data are summarized as mean +/- SE.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Operation times with the LAPPG procedure (279 +/- 6 minutes) were significantly, but only 20 minutes, longer than with CPPG (259 +/- 8 minutes) (p = 0.047), although estimated blood loss for LAPPG patients (153 +/- 13 mL) was not significantly different for those undergoing CPPG (184 +/- 13 mL, p = 0.13). Mean total number of dissected lymph nodes was 32.3 +/- 1.6 in the LAPPG group and 28.5 +/- 2.2 in the CPPG group (p = 0.16). There was no significant difference in the number of lymph nodes retrieved for any of the nodal stations between the LAPPG and CPPG procedures.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Clinical outcomes of surgical treatment were comparable for gastric cancer patients who underwent LAPPG and those treated with CPPG in terms of station-dependent lymph node dissection and estimated blood loss.
authors.affiliation: Gastroenterological Center, Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Cancer Institute, Ariake Hospital, Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research, Tokyo, Japan. naoki.hiki@jfcr.or.jp
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hiki
authors.forename: Shouji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shimoyama
authors.forename: Hirokazu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.forename: Keisuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kubota
authors.forename: Michio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaminishi
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005743:Gastrectomy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy; D008197:Lymph Node Excision / Q000592:standards*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011708:Pylorus / Q000601:surgery*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome