title: Actual 3-year survival after laparoscopy-assisted gastrectomy for gastric cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze 3-year actual disease-free survival after laparoscopy-assisted gastrectomy for gastric cancer on the assumption that 3-year disease-free survival may represent 5-year overall survival.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Department of surgery of a university hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 197 patients who underwent laparoscopy-assisted gastrectomy for gastric cancer from May 1998 to September 2007 and who were followed up for more than 3 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  Feasibility and long-term survival rate with survival analysis by the Kaplan-Meier method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Subtotal and total gastrectomies were performed in 178 and 19 patients, respectively. The scope of the lymph node dissections were D1 + beta (n = 152) and D2 (n = 45). There were 153, 28, 8, 6, 1, and 1 patients in stages Ia, Ib, II, IIIa, IIIb, and IV, respectively. The median follow-up was 45 months (range, 1-113 months), and there were 7 recurrences. Multivariate analysis of disease-specific survival showed that depth of invasion and lymph node metastasis influenced the prognosis independently. The actual 3-year disease-free survival rate for all patients was 96.9%. The 173 patients with early gastric cancer and 24 with advanced gastric cancer showed 98.8% and 79.1% actual 3-year disease-free survival rates, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Laparoscopy-assisted gastrectomy is acceptable oncologically in early gastric cancer if 3-year disease-free survival represents 5-year overall survival. Laparoscopy-assisted gastrectomy may also play an important role in the treatment of advanced gastric cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, 300 Gumi-dong, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi, Korea.
authors.forename: Sun-Hwi
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: Do Joong
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Ye Seob
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Jee
authors.forename: Min-Chan
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hyung-Ho
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hyuk-Joon
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Han-Kwang
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Kuhn Uk
authors.initials: KU
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000601:surgery*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005743:Gastrectomy / Q000379:methods / Q000401:mortality*; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy / Q000401:mortality*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D055815:Young Adult