Lack of Oncological Benefit from Bursectomy in Radical Gastrectomy: A Systematic Review

Resection of the omental bursa has been suggested to reduce peritoneal recurrence and facilitate a complete oncological resection during a gastrectomy. The addition of this procedure increases technical complexity and prolongs the procedure. Published data regarding the oncological benefit of this procedure are conflicting. We hypothesized that a bursectomy during a radical gastrectomy does not improve overall survival.

In accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) reporting guideline, a comprehensive literature search of 3 electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus, and Embase) was conducted to identify the clinical studies that compared bursectomy with no-bursectomy in radical gastrectomy for gastric adenocarcinoma. Qualitative and quantitative data synthesis was performed using RevMan software. A random-/fixed-effect modeling was used depending upon the heterogeneity. Bias and quality assessment tools were applied. The study was registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) (CRD42019116556).

Of 8 studies assessing the role of bursectomy in gastric adenocarcinoma, 6 (75%) were included - of which 2 (33%) are randomized controlled trials. Of 2,904 patients, 1,273 (%) underwent a bursectomy. There was no statistically significant difference in either overall survival (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.89, 95% CI 0.75-1.06, I² = 14%) or disease recurrence (HR = 1.01, 95% CI 0.84-1.20, I² = 22%) in the bursectomy group compared to the no-bursectomy group.

There is no additional oncological benefit of adding bursectomy to radical gastrectomy in all patients with gastric adenocarcinoma.