Short-term Outcomes of Laparoscopic Versus Open Gastrectomy With Lymph Node Dissection for Early Gastric Cancer :a Randomized Controlled Study

While the incidence of gastric cancer is gradually declining, it is the fifth most common cancer worldwide and the third most common cause of cancer related death worldwide according to GLOBOCAN 2018 data (Rawla P and Barsouk A.,2019). Laparoscopic distal gastrectomy for early gastric cancer(EGC) was first performed more than 20 years ago (Shi, Y et al.,2018). Laparoscopy-assisted gastrectomy (LAG) for EGC has been confirmed to have oncologic and long-term survival equivalency to the open technique and provide tremendous advantages over open surgery, such as good cosmesis, reduced pain, and shorter hospital stay(Katai H et al.,2017). Based on the experience of EGC, most experienced surgeons have applied the laparoscopic procedure in patients with locally advanced gastric cancer (AGC). Retrospective studies have assessed the technical and oncological safety of LAG with D2 lymph node dissection for AGC(Hao Y et al .,2016). Recently, results of two ongoing randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have revealed the surgical safety of laparoscopic distal gastrectomy with D2 lymphadenectomy for AGC . However, laparoscopic gastrectomy for locally advanced disease remains controversial(Hu Y et al.,2016). Here, we report the short-term surgical outcomes of a RCT comparing laparoscopic and open gastrectomy (OG) with D2 lymph node dissection for EGC, which was designed to assess the technical safety and oncologic feasibility of LAG for EGC.