Laparoscopic Total Gastrectomy for Gastric Cancer

ABSTRACT

Laparoscopic total gastrectomy (LTG) has been more widely performed in the last decade because of improvements in the techniques and safety of laparoscopic distal gastrectomy. However, due to its technical difficulty, there are still concerns regarding the safety of LTG. Meta-analyses have shown that LTG is technically feasible, safe, and may offer advantages over open total gastrectomy for treatment of gastric cancer. Various methods of performing esophagojejunostomy have been developed in an effort to decrease the rate of anastomosis-related complications, and have ultimately improved the safety and acceptance of LTG. However, there is still a lack of level-one evidence in support of LTG. Conduct of large-scale, randomized clinical trials will be needed in order to verify the safety and efficacy of LTG. Therefore, we reviewed the current status and some of the controversies surrounding LTG.