The usefulness of robotic surgery for advanced gastric cancer

(Background/Aims)
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the usefulness of robotic gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer (AGS) and show our tips of standardized D2 lymph node dissection.
(Standardization for D2 lymph node dissection)
In the concept, robotic procedure was traced with laparoscopic gastrectomy. Basically, LCS was used on all procedures like lap surgery and supra pancreatic lymph node dissection was performed by LCS from the right side port. In No11 LN dissection, robotic port was elevated to the ventral side to adjust the dissection line.
(Patients and methods)
123 patients were operated using the robotic surgery. For these patients, we focused on the D2 LN dissection (n=61). Operating time, ,post-operative complications were compared with laparoscopic gastrectomy with D2 LN dissection (n=41).
(Result)
Compared with the lap group, robotic surgery takes a long time(330mins. 296min p<0.05), on the other hand, no difference was noted in terms of intraoperative bleeding (45ml vs 41ml p=0.55), and there was no significant difference on observed complications and retrieved LN number (38 vs 37 p=0.23). Furthermore, the value of the amylase concentration was lower in robotic group (372 vs 936 IU/l p=0.01)
(Conclusion)
The robotic surgery is useful for AGC.