Possibly more favorable short-term outcomes with minimally invasive surgery than with open surgery in total gastrectomy for locally advanced gastric cancer: A single high-volume center study.

[BACKGROUND] Minimally invasive total gastrectomy (MTG) requires advanced surgical skills and is still associated with a higher rate of postoperative complications than other types of gastrectomy. Additionally, the short-term outcomes of MTG compared to open total gastrectomy (OTG) for locally advanced gastric cancer have yet to be demonstrated.

[METHODS] We retrospectively compared short-term outcomes between MTG and OTG for locally advanced gastric and esophago-gastric junctional cancer, performed at the Cancer Institute Hospital, Tokyo, during the period from January 2017 to March 2024. Propensity score matching (PSM) was conducted to adjust for potential confounders.

[RESULTS] In total, 359 patients were included, with 190 remaining after PSM, resulting in 95 in each group. The MTG group experienced a significantly lower incidence of postoperative complications of Clavien-Dindo classification (C-D) ≥3 than the OTG group (3.2% vs. 11.6%,  = 0.026). Moreover, the rate of postoperative intra-abdominal infectious complications (IAIC) was significantly lower in the MTG than in the OTG group (C-D ≥ 2; 7.4% vs. 17.9%,  = 0.029 and C-D ≥ 3; 2.1% vs. 9.5%,  = 0.030, respectively). Subgroup analyses showed the odds ratios for IAIC with C-D ≥ 2 to be more favorable for the MTG than the OTG group in male patients, those ≥70 years of age, patients without esophageal invasion, those without neoadjuvant chemotherapy, those diagnosed with cT≥3, and patients not undergoing combined resection of other organs except for the gallbladder or spleen.

[CONCLUSIONS] MTG for locally advanced gastric cancer may provide improved short-term outcomes compared to OTG, when performed or supervised by surgeons with high proficiency in laparoscopic techniques.