Feasibility of laparoscopic total gastrectomy in overweight patients: Implications of less impact of overweight on laparoscopic versus open approach

AIM: To investigate safety and oncological feasibility of laparoscopic total gastrectomy (LTG) in overweight (OW) patients. METHODS: Patients who underwent total gastrectomy (110 laparoscopic, 211 open) for gastric cancer between January 1999 and July 2016 were included. Propensity score matching selected 152 patients (76 laparoscopic, 76 open), which were subsequently divided into the OW (≥ 25) or non-OW (< 25) group by body mass index. Postoperative outcomes of laparoscopic versus open approaches were compared between OW and non-OW groups. RESULTS: In the propensity-matched population, baseline characteristics were comparable between the OW and non-OW groups for the laparoscopy and open groups. In the laparoscopy group, operative time was longer (P = 0.01) in the OW group, however, other perioperative results including complication rates were comparable between the non-OW and OW groups. In the open group, number of retrieved lymph nodes were less (P = 0.03) and local complication rate was more frequent (P = 0.03) in the OW group. CONCLUSION: LTG in OW patients remains technically challenging but can be performed safely. Our findings imply that OW has a lesser effect on the laparoscopic versus open approach to total gastrectomy.