Laparoscopic gastric resections with per oral specimen extraction in treatment of intramural gastric tumors.

AIM:The goal of this work was to present our experiences and results of treatment of gastric tumors using the per oral specimen extraction (POSE) technique. MATERIAL AND METHODS:A retrospective analysis a group of patients treated with laparoscopic stomach wedge resection of gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST). During that time 50 patients underwent laparoscopy due to the suspicion of GIST. In 12 patients resected material was removed endoscopically per os (POSE). In the remaining 38 subjects it was evacuated through minilaparotomy. Mean age of patients treated using POSE technique was 65.6 years (48-81 years). There were 9 women and 3 men in this group Results: Mean time of the POSE procedure was 92.5 min (40-160 min). Size of removed tumors ranged from 14 mm to 40 mm (mean: 25 mm). The mean length of hospital stay was 3.2 days (2 to 8 days) for patients treated with POSE. One patient (8.3%) required longer hospitalization (8 days) due to the presence of a fluid collection at the site of gastric suture. This patient was treated conservatively. One patient (8.3%) was diagnosed with surgical site infection (navel wound after an optical trocar). Histopathological examination confirmed radical excision in all of our patients (R0). CONCLUSIONS:It seems that the POSE technique is the next stage of development of minimally invasive surgery and may constitute a link in evolution of natural orifice translumenal surgery techniques. Removal of excised material through oral cavity is an attractive, effective, and safe method despite its many limitations.