Comparison of Postoperative Pain in Laparoscopy-Assisted Distal Gastrectomy and Totally Laparoscopic Distal Gastrectomy by Location of Mini-Laparotomy Site.

Purpose: We aimed to evaluate the clinical outcomes and determine the degree of postoperative pain associated with the location of mini-laparotomy sites in gastric cancer patients who underwent laparoscopic-assisted distal gastrectomy (LADG) or totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy (TLDG).

Methods: Between November 2011 and December 2016, 153 patients who underwent surgery for gastric cancer at Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong were reviewed retrospectively. We divided the patients into LADG with epigastric incision, TLDG with umbilical incision (TLDG_U), and TLDG with Pfannenstiel incision (TLDG_P) groups according to the location of incision for anastomosis and specimen removal.