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Selection of locally advanced gastric carcinoma by preoperative staging laparoscopy
D M D'Ugo1, R Persiani, F Caracciolo
1Department of General Surgery, "A. Gemelli" Hospital, Catholic University of Rome, Largo Gemelli, 8, 00168-Rome, Italy.
Background:
The present study is a prospective evaluation of immediate preoperative laparoscopy compared to ultrasound/computed tomography (US/CT) staging for gastric cancer in a series of 100 patients observed at two major Italian hospitals from April 1995 through September 1996.
Methods:
After a complete preoperative work-up all c-M0 patients underwent laparoscopy immediately prior to an eventual surgical exploration. pTNM was considered as the gold standard for the evaluation of the results.
Results:
Laparoscopy detected 21 unsuspected M+ cases out of 100. As regards locally advanced tumors, laparoscopy showed a sensibility of 69.7% for T3 and 89.6% for T4, significantly higher than US/CT staging (23.2% and 48.3%, respectively; p < 0.02). In this series laparoscopic staging altered clinical staging in 58% of cases.
Conclusions:
This procedure plays two crucial roles in the preoperative evaluation of advanced gastric cancer: It makes it possible to avoid unnecessary surgical exploration in M+ cases and, to date, it represents the most reliable and economic tool for the selection of locally advanced tumors in the light of neoadjuvant treatment.