Long-term clinical outcomes of laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy versus open distal gastrectomy for early gastric cancer: A comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized control trials

The objective of this study was to compare long-term surgical outcomes and complications of laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy (LADG) with open distal gastrectomy (ODG) for the treatment of early gastric cancer (EGC) based on a review of available randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluated using the Cochrane methodology. RCTs comparing LADG and ODG were identified by a systematic literature search in PubMed, Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, and the China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database, for papers published from January 1, 2003 to July 30, 2015. Meta-analyses were performed to compare the long-term clinical outcomes. Our systematic literature search identified 8 eligible RCTs including 732 patients (374 LADGs and 358 ODGs), with low overall risk of bias. Long-term mortality and relapse rate were comparable for both techniques. The long-term complication rate was 8.47% in LADG groups and 13.62% in the ODG group, indicating that LADG was associated with lower risk for long-term complications (RR = 0.63; 95%CI = 0.39–1.00; P = 0.03). In the treatment of EGC, LADG lowered the rate of long- and short-term complications and promoted earlier recovery, with comparable oncological outcomes to ODG.