title: Laparoscopic gastric surgery for cancer: where do we stand?
abstract: Gastric cancer poses a significant public health problem, especially in the Far East, due to its high incidence in these areas. Surgical treatment and guidelines have been markedly different in the West, but nowadays this debate is apparently coming to an end. Laparoscopic surgery has been employed in the surgical treatment of gastric cancer for two decades now, but with controversies about the extent of resection and lymphadenectomy. Despite these difficulties, the apparent advantages of the laparoscopic approach helped its implementation in early stage and distal gastric cancer, with an increase on the uptake for distal gastrectomy for more advanced disease and total gastrectomy. Nevertheless, there is no conclusive evidence about the laparoscopic approach yet. In this review article we present and analyse the current status of laparoscopic surgery in the treatment of gastric cancer.
authors.affiliation: Pantelis T Antonakis, General Surgeon, Department of Surgery, Athens Euroclinic, 11521 Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Pantelis T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Antonakis
authors.affiliation: Pantelis T Antonakis, General Surgeon, Department of Surgery, Athens Euroclinic, 11521 Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Hutan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ashrafian
authors.affiliation: Pantelis T Antonakis, General Surgeon, Department of Surgery, Athens Euroclinic, 11521 Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Alberto Martinez
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Isla
mesh_terms: D000068:Accreditation; D002568:Certification; D002983:Clinical Competence; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate; D005743:Gastrectomy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000193:education / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000193:education / Q000592:standards; D059032:Learning Curve; D008197:Lymph Node Excision; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D065287:Robotic Surgical Procedures; D012371:Robotics; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Gastric cancer; Laparoscopic distal gastrectomy; Laparoscopic gastrectomy; Laparoscopic total gastrectomy; Minimally invasive gastrectomy; Robotic gastrectomy