Background: The development of laparoscopic surgery has been allowed its incorporation in the surgical treatment of gastric cancer. The number of lymph node dissected is one of the tools used to evaluate the quality of lymph node dissection in gastric cancer. The aim of this study was to compare the quality of lymph node dissection after laparoscopic and open gastrectomy. Patients and Methods: Review of prospective database of all patients who underwent laparoscopic gastrectomy for gastric cancer with curative intent in our institution. Patients underwent D1+ß or D2 lymph node dissection according to preoperative staging. They were matched according to age, gender and TNM staging with patients who underwent open gastrectomy for gastric cancer in the same period. Results: From May 20005 to April 2008, 16 patients were underwent laparoscopic gastrectomy for gastric cancer. The mean age was 63 years (40-80), nine (56%) were male. Total and distal gastrectomy were performed in 10 and 6 patients respectively. The mean operative time was 240 minutes in patients who underwent laparoscopic gastrectomy and 226 minutes in patients of the open group (p
Session: Poster
Program Number: P358