[Surgical treatment of gastric cancer: focus on centralisation and laparoscopic resections]

Approximately 2000 patients are diagnosed with gastric carcinoma in the Netherlands each year; about 500 will be eligible for curative surgical treatment. The 5-year survival rate after therapy aimed at curing the condition is 45%, which can increase by an average of 10% if perioperative chemotherapy is added to the treatment regimen. Surgical treatment consists of a distal or total gastrectomy with spleen-preserving lymphadenectomy. Centralising this type of treatment leads to less postoperative mortality and better oncological outcomes. There are indications that laparoscopic surgery can accelerate postoperative recovery time. There are insufficient long-term data on outcomes of laparoscopic surgery to date to be able to conclude whether the laparoscopic or open approach to total gastric resection is preferable.