Short-term outcomes of Roux-en-Y stapled anastomosis after distal gastrectomy for gastric adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND

Since 2003, we have begun to perform gastrojejunostomy by mechanical stapling for Roux-en-Y reconstruction in distal gastrectomy. We performed a retrospective study to compare the short-term outcomes of anastomosis by mechanical stapling and hand suturing.

METHODS

We evaluated the data of 701 consecutive patients of gastric adenocarcinoma who underwent conventional open distal gastrectomy with Roux-en-Y reconstruction. The data collected included details on the method used for the Roux-en-Y reconstruction, the disease stage, extent of lymph node dissection, performance rate of truncal vagotomy, operation time, operative blood loss, length of hospital stay, and postoperative complications.

RESULTS

The operation time was significantly shorter in the group in which mechanical stapling was used for the anastomosis (MS group) than in the group in which anastomosis was performed by hand suturing (HS group; 241.1 +/- 56.8 vs. 166.4 +/- 48.3 min; p < 0.05). Postoperatively, delayed gastric emptying occurred in 14 (1.9%) patients, including seven (4.2%) from the MS group and seven (1.3%) from the HS group (p = 0.038).

CONCLUSION

There were no significant disadvantages of employing mechanical stapling for anastomosis, except for the high rate of delayed gastric emptying. More consideration therefore needs to be given to decreasing the frequency of gastric emptying disturbance post surgery using mechanical staples.