Comparison of respiratory function recovery in the early phase after laparoscopy-assisted gastrectomy and open gastrectomy.

Background: Laparoscopic gastrectomy (LAG) is recognized as a less invasive surgery, but no advantage in terms of respiratory function recovery has been demonstrated. We investigated respiratory function recovery in the early period after LAG compared with open gastrectomy (OG) for measuring the recovery of oxygen saturation level (SaO(2)).

Methods: The study population comprised 454 patients who underwent distal gastrectomy or total gastrectomy for preoperatively diagnosed T1N0 gastric cancer: 192 underwent laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy (LADG), 190 underwent open distal gastrectomy (ODG), 42 underwent laparoscopy-assisted total gastrectomy (LATG), and 30 underwent open total gastrectomy (OTG).

Results: The number of days until SaO(2) reached 95% or higher in room air was significantly smaller in the LADG group (1.54 days) than in the ODG group (1.81 days; p = 0.010) and also significantly smaller in the LATG group (1.48 days) than in the OTG group (2.03 days; p = 0.043).

Conclusions: LAG patients recovered their oxygenation earlier than OG patients. The laparoscopic procedure might confer a respiratory benefit for gastrectomy patients.