[Assessment of Short-Term Outcomes of Laparoscopic-Assisted Distal Gastrectomy in Elderly Patients Using Comorbidities as Predictive Factors].

Laparoscopic-assisted distal gastrectomy(LADG)is a recently developed minimally invasive surgery for management of early gastric cancer. We describe short-term results obtained from a retrospective study of LADG, performed in elderly patients, using comorbidities as predictive factors. We studied 160 patients diagnosed with gastric cancer who underwent LADG between January 2005 and October 2016. We compared 48 patients, aged≥75 years(elder group), with 112 patients, aged <75 years(non-elder group), who underwent LADG. Preoperative physical status was assessed using the American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status(ASA-PS)score, Charlson comorbidity index(CCI), and the prognostic nutritional index (PNI). Demographics of patients, primarily, sex, tumor lesion, and histology did not significantly differ between the groups. However, the mean ASA-PS score and CCI were significantly higher, and the PNI was significantly lower in the elder group. Surgical duration, volume of blood loss, lymph node clearance, and length of postoperative hospital stay did not significantly differ between the groups. Cardiorespiratory and surgical complications developed in 2(4.2%)and 3(2.7%), and in 5(10%) and 12(11%)patients in the elder and non-elder groups, respectively. However, the rates of intra and postoperative complications were not significantly different between them. LADG can be considered a safe and effective minimally invasive surgical procedure for management of early gastric cancer in elderly patients.