Laparoscopic distal gastrectomy for gastric cancer: initial experience]

To report the initial experience with the laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy (LADG) with D2 lymphadenectomy for gastric cancer.Between May 2006 and May 2007, 29 consecutive GC patients with gastric cancer underwent LADG with D2 lymphadenectomy. The operation consisted in a laparoscopic time to perform lymphadenectomy and mobilization of the distal stomach, followed by a minilaparotomy for exteriorization of the specimen and construction of a hand sewn anastomosis.Twenty-nine patients underwent LADG with D2 lymphadenectomy for gastric cancer. Mean age was 58.2 years. Mean operative time was 287.4 min. Mean number of lymph nodes resected was 42.6. Twelve patients were early gastric cancer, and seventeen were advanced gastric cancer. Mean proximal and distal resection margin were 5.8 cm and 3.5 cm, respectively. Resection margins were negative in all cases. Mean number of lymph nodes resected was 42.6. Thirty-day morbidity rate was 10.3 %. There were no postoperative deaths.CONCLUSION. The short-term results of our LADG with D2 lymphadenectomy for the treatment of gastric cancer shows that a radical surgery, in terms of resection margins and lymphadenectomy, can be done with low morbidity.