title: Safety and efficacy of laparoscopy-assisted gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer in the elderly.
abstract: To evaluate safety and efficacy of laparoscopy-assisted radical gastrectomy (LARG) for advanced gastric cancer patients aged 70 years or older. Clinical data were retrospectively collected from patients with IIA-IIIC gastric cancer who underwent LARG (n = 30) and open radical gastrectomy (ORG, n = 34) in Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery in the Ningbo First Hospital from January 2012 to December 2013. The mean operative time was longer in the LARG group than in the ORG group but there was no statistical difference between the two groups. The intraoperative blood loss (120 ± 52.7 ml vs 227.3 ± 146.9 ml), incidence of postoperative complication (23.0% vs 47%) were lower in the LARG group than those in the ORG group. In addition, the time to first flatus (2.9 ± 0.8 d vs 4.6 ± 1.2 d), time to first ambulation (1.2 ± 0.4 vs 4.1 ± 1.0 d), time of nasogastric intubation (2.5 ± 1.0 d vs 3.5 ± 1.4 d), and postoperative hospital stay (13.0 ± 4.2 d vs 16.9 ± 4.1 d) were significantly shorter in the LARG group than in the ORG group, respectively. No statistical difference in the number of harvested lymph nodes was noted between the two groups (30.2 ± 12.0 vs 28.1 ± 11.8, P > 0.05). LARG is safer, more effective and less invasive for the elderly patients with advanced gastric cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Ningbo First Hospital Ningbo 315010, China.
authors.forename: Jiang-Feng
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Ningbo First Hospital Ningbo 315010, China.
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Ningbo First Hospital Ningbo 315010, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Ningbo First Hospital Ningbo 315010, China.
authors.forename: Yi-Ping
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Ningbo First Hospital Ningbo 315010, China.
authors.forename: Yi-Jiu
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Ningbo First Hospital Ningbo 315010, China.
authors.forename: Xiu-Chong
authors.initials: XC
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Ningbo First Hospital Ningbo 315010, China.
authors.forename: Mou-Cheng
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Zhang
keywords: Laparoscopy-assisted gastrectomy; clinical efficacy; gastric cancer; open gastrectomy