To investigate the short-term efficacy of laparoscopic-assisted pylorus preserving gastrectomy (PPG) in the treatment of early middle gastric cancer.

From June 2018 to December 2020, 94 patients with early middle gastric cancer who underwent laparoscopic surgery in Changjiang Healthcare Group of Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University were retrospectively analyzed. According to the different operation methods, 41 patients were the observation group (laparoscopic-assisted PPG) and 53 patients were the control group (laparoscopic-assisted distal gastrectomy). The perioperative indexes, oncology indexes and postoperative complications were compared between the two groups. The survival and nutritional indexes of the two groups were compared after follow-up.

There were no significant differences in intraoperative blood loss, exhaust time, drainage tube extubation time, the number of lymph node dissection and postoperative hospital stay between the two groups. The operation time of the observation group was longer than that of the control group, proximal and distal tumor margins of the observation group were shorter than those of the control group, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in the incidence of incision infection, pulmonary infection, delayed gastric emptying, reflux esophagitis, anastomotic stenosis and the total incidence of complications between the two groups. All patients were followed up for 19 (3-33) months, and no death, tumor recurrence or metastasis occurred. Three months after surgery, the serum albumin, hemoglobin and body mass index of the two groups were significantly decreased compared with those before surgery (P<0.05), while the three nutritional indexes of the observation group were higher than those of the control group (P<0.05).

Laparoscopic-assisted PPG is safe and feasible in the treatment of early middle gastric cancer, with satisfactory clinical efficacy in the near future, which is worthy of clinical trial and promotion.