Postoperative pancreatic fistula after robot distal gastrectomy
Ho Seok Seo1, Jung Ho Shim1, Hae Myung Jeon1
1Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Department of Surgery, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea.
Background:
To compare the incidences of postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF) between robot-assisted distal gastrectomy (RADG) and laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy (LADG).
Materials And Methods:
A total of 40 patients with gastric cancer who underwent RADG were compared with 40 initial patients who underwent LADG by a single surgeon. We evaluated and compared the clinicopathologic characteristics, surgical outcomes, and operative complications including POPF in two groups.
Results:
The POPF was observed more frequently in the LADG group than in the RADG group (22.5% versus 10%, P < 0.001). Although the serum amylase levels in the 20 first-half cases did not statistically differ between LADG and RADG (P = 0.32), those in the 20 latter-half cases were significantly lower in the RADG group (P < 0.05). Univariate and multivariate analyses identified laparoscopic surgery and visceral fat area as POPF-associated risk factors.
Conclusions:
RADG is feasible and safe for distal gastrectomy in terms of POPF.
