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Yuu et al. Mini-invasive Surg 2019;3:6 Mini-invasive Surgery
DOI: 10.20517/2574-1225.2018.73

Original Article Open Access

Laparoscopic vs. open distal gastrectomy for
advanced gastric cancer in elderly patients: a
retrospective study

Ken Yuu, Kurumi Tsuchihashi, Sho Toyoda, Masayasu Kawasaki, Masao Kameyama

Department of Surgery, Bell Land General Hospital, 500-3, Higashiyama, Naka-ku, Sakai, Osaka 599-8247, Japan.
Correspondence to: Dr. Ken Yuu, Department of Surgery, Bell Land General Hospital, 500-3, Higashiyama, Naka-ku, Sakai,
Osaka 599-8247, Japan. E-mail: k_yuu@seichokai.or.jp

How to cite this article: Yuu K, Tsuchihashi K, Toyoda S, Kawasaki M, Kameyama M. Laparoscopic vs. open distal gastrectomy
for advanced gastric cancer in elderly patients: a retrospective study. Mini-invasive Surg 2019;3:6.
http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2574-1225.2018.73

Received: 1 Dec 2018 First Decision: 22 Jan 2019 Revised: 31 Jan 2019 Accepted: 11 Feb 2019 Published: 18 Mar 2019

Science Editor: Tetsu Fukunaga Copy Editor: Cai-Hong Wang Production Editor: Huan-Liang Wu

Abstract
Aim: It is unclear whether elderly patients with advanced gastric cancer can benefit from laparoscopic gastrectomy. This
study aimed to compare the surgical and early postoperative outcomes of laparoscopic distal gastrectomy with those of
open distal gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer in elderly patients aged 75 years or older.

Methods: We retrospectively examined all elderly patients who underwent laparoscopic distal gastrectomy or open
distal gastrectomy from October 2010 to October 2017 using prospectively collected data. Operative results, hospital
courses, and survival rates were compared between the two groups.

Results: Distal gastrectomy was performed in 60 patients, laparoscopically in 20 and through open surgery in 40.
The laparoscopic group had significantly lesser intraoperative blood loss (100 mL vs. 300 mL; P < 0.001) and shorter
mean postoperative hospital stays (12 days vs. 23 days; P < 0.001). The overall 3-year survival rate was 50.1% in the
laparoscopic group and 41.7% in the open group (P = 0.531).

Conclusion: Laparoscopic distal gastrectomy led to a faster return to a full diet and a shorter postoperative hospital stay
in our study, and it was well tolerated by elderly patients with advanced gastric cancer.

Keywords: Aging, gastrectomy, gastric cancer, laparoscopy

© The Author(s) 2019. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as long
as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license,
and indicate if changes were made.

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