[Laparoscopic gastrectomy]

Laparoscopy-assisted gastrectomy has become a popular surgical option, particularly for the treatment of early gastric cancer. A multi-institutional clinical trial has recently demonstrated that satisfactory results have been obtained with the clinical outcomes of laparoscopic gastrectomy for early gastric cacer, which was not inferior to those obtained by a conventional open procedure. However, the indication of laparoscopic gastrectomy for the treatment of patients with advanced gastric cancer has remained controversial. In this paper, we describe the current status of gastric cancer treatment, including lymph node dissection and reconstruction procedures. We also provide future perspectives concerning the robot-assisted laparoscopic gastrectomy for gastric cancer.