title: History of minimally invasive surgery for gastric cancer in Korea.
abstract: Laparoscopic gastrectomy was begun in 1995 in Korea. But, there was 4 years gap to reactivate in 1999. High incidence of gastric cancer and increasing proportion of early cancer through national screening program along with huge effort and enthusiasm of laparoscopic gastric surgeon, and active academic exchange with Japanese doctors contributed development of laparoscopic gastrectomy in Korea. Study group activity of Korean Laparoscopic Gastrointestinal Surgery Study (KLASS) group and Collaborative Action for Gastric Cancer (COACT) group were paramount to evoke large scale multicenter clinical study and various well performed clinical studies. This review encompasses mainly international publications about this area so far in Korea.
authors.affiliation: Gastric Cancer Branch, Research Institute and Hospital, National Cancer Center, Goyang, Korea.
authors.forename: Young-Woo
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hong Man
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Bang Wool
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Eom
authors.forename: Ji Yeon
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Park