Laparoscopic gastric surgery for cancer: Where do we stand?

Table 1 Noticeable prospective randomized controlled trials comparing laparoscopic assisted distal gastrectomy with open distal gastrectomy

RegionCountry	East							West
	Japan			South Korea			China	Italy
Author	Kitano et al[30]	Hayashi et al[31]	Lee et al[33]	Takiguchi et al[36]	Kim et al[34,47]	Kim et al[35]	Cai et al[56]	Huscher et al[32]
Year	2002	2002	2005	2013	2008, 2013	2010	2011	2005
Patients	28	28	47	40	164	342	123	59
Reconstruction	B-I	B-I	B-I	B-I	B-I	B-I or B-II (mostly)	B-I or B-II	B-II or R-Y
Lymphadenectomy type	D1 + a	D1 + a	D2	D1 + b or D2	D1 + b or D2	D1 + b or D2	D2	D1 or D2
Blood Loss	↓	NS	NS	↓	↓	↓	↓	↓
Operation Time	↑	↑	↑	↑	↑	NR	↑	NS
Pain or analgesia consumption	↓	↓	NS	↓	↓	NR	NR	NR
Time to Oral Intake or First Flatus	NS	↓	NS	↓	↓	NR	NS	↓
Morbidity	NS	↓ NC	NS	NS	↓	NS	NS	NS
Pulmonary complications	↓ NC	↓ NC	↓	NR	NS	0% NS	↓	↓ NC
Mortality	0% NC	0% NC	0% NC	0% NC	0% NC	About 0% NS	0% NC	NS
Length of Stay	NS	↓	NS	↓	↓	NR	NS	↓
Mean number of lymph nodes	↓4.7-NS	NS	↓6.3 - NS	NS	↓6.1 P < 0.01	NR	NS	↓3.3 - NS
5-yr survival	NR	NR	NR	100% NC	NS	NR	NR	NS

Upward arrow (↑): increased or more in the laparoscopic assisted distal gastrectomy (LADG) group compared to the open distal gastrectomy (ODG) group; Downward arrow (↓): decreased or less in the LADG group compared to the ODG group. B-I: Billroth I; B-II: Billroth II; R-Y: Roux-en-Y; NS: Not significant; NR: Not reported; NC: Not computed; LADG: Laparoscopic assisted distal gastrectomy; ODG: Open distal gastrectomy.