The impact of obesity on the use of a totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy in patients with gastric cancer.
OBJECTIVE
Since a patient's obesity can affect the mortality and morbidity of the surgery, less drastic surgeries may have a major benefit for obese individuals. This study evaluated the feasibility of performing a totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy, with intracorporeal anastomosis, in obese patients suffering from gastric cancer.


METHODS
This was a retrospective analysis of the 138 patients, who underwent a totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy from April 2005 to March 2009, at the National Kyushu Cancer Center. The body mass index of 20 patients was ≥25, and in 118 patients, it was <25 kg/m(2).


RESULTS
The mean values of body mass index in the 2 groups were 27.3±2.2 and 21.4±2.3. Hypertension was significantly more frequent in the obese patients than in the non-obese patients. The intraoperative blood loss, duration of surgery, post-operative complication rate, post-operative hospital stay, and a number of retrieved lymph nodes were not significantly different between the two groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Intracorporeal anastomosis seemed to have a benefit for obese individuals. Totally laparoscopic gastrectomy is, therefore, considered to be a safe and an effective modality for obese patients.
Department of Surgery and Science, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
Eiji
E
Oki
Yoshihisa
Y
Sakaguchi
Kippei
K
Ohgaki
Hiroshi
H
Saeki
Yoshiki
Y
Chinen
Kazuhito
K
Minami
Yasuo
Y
Sakamoto
Yasushi
Y
Toh
Testuya
T
Kusumoto
Takeshi
T
Okamura
Yoshihiko
Y
Maehara