Laparoscopic total and subtotal gastrectomy for gastric cancer

Laparoscopic gastrectomy (LG) for malignancy has not fully entered into daily clinical practice. Since 1994, when Kitano performed the first laparoscopic gastrectomy with Billroth I anastomosis for early gastric cancer, there was not a wide acceptance of laparoscopic approach as in other procedures such as laparoscopic colectomy for both benign and malignant conditions, fundoplication and cholecystectomy. Technical and instrumental developments in laparoscopic surgery, however, allowed a more aggressive surgery for gastric cancer and improvedits diffusion. Several studies have been conducted in order to define the adequacy of laparoscopic approach in gastrectomies for malignant disease in terms of short, long and oncological outcomes. The aim of this chapter is to make a review of literature, about laparoscopic approach for gastric malignant disease versus the open approach, and describe the laparoscopic technique of total and subtotal gastrectomies for malignant disease. © 2012 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.