• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.132-138
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• 2007

Purpose: In Korea, the number of laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomies for early gastric cancer patients has been on the increase. Although minimally invasive surgery is more beneficial, no reported case of a total laparoscopic gastrectomy has been reported because of difficulty with intracorporeal anastomosis. This study attempts, through our experience, to determine the safety and feasibility of a total laparoscopic gastrectomy with various types of intracorporeal anastomosis using laparoscopic linears stapler in treating early gastric carcinomas. Materials and Methods: We investigated the surgical results and clinicopatholgical characteristics of 81 patients that underwent a totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy at our department between June 2004 and May 2007. The intracorporeal anastomoses were performed by using laparoscopic linear staplers. Results: The mean operative time was 287 minutes, the mean anastomotic time was 40 minutes, and the mean number of laparoscopic linear staplers used for an operation was 7.5. The mean time to the first flatus, the first food intake, and discharge from hospital was 2.9, 3.6, and 10.3 days respectively. There were 11 cases of postoperative complications, but no case of postoperative mortality or conversion to an open procedure. In 75 patients with an adenocarcinoma, the mean number of lymph nodes harvested was 38.1 and the stage distribution was as follows: stage I, 72 patients; stage II, 2 patients; stage IV, 1 patient. During the mean follow-up period of 14 months, 5 patients died of other causes and there were no cases of cancer recurrence. Conclusion: A total laparoscopic gastrectomy with intracorporeal anastomosis by using a laparoscopic linear stapler was found to be safe and feasible. We were able to obtain acceptable surgical outcomes in terms of minimal invasiveness.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.34 no.12
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• pp.895-900
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• 2001

Background : This study aimed to evaluate the usefulness of preoperative placement of intraaortic balloon pump(IABP) in reducing operative risk and facilitating posterior vessel OPCAB in high risk patients with left main disease( 75％ stenosis), intractable resting angina, postinfarction angina, or left ventricular dysfunction(ejection fraction 35％). Material and Method : One hundred eighty- nine consecutive patients who underwent multi-vessel OPCAB including posterior vessel revascularization were studied. The patients were divided into group I(n=74) that received preoperative or intraoperative IABP and group II(n=115) that did not receive IABP. In group I, there were 39 patients with left main disease, 40 patients with intractable resting angina, 14 patients with left ventricular dysfunction and 7 patients with postinfarction angina. Ten patients received intraoperative IABP support due to hemodynamic instability during OPCAB. Result : There was one operative mortality in group I and two mortalities in group II. The average number of distal anastomoses was not different between group I and group II(3.5$\pm$0.9 vs 3.4$\pm$0.9, p=ns). There were no significant differences in the number of posterior vessel anastomosis per patient between the two groups. There were no differences in ventilator support time, length of hospital stay, and morbidity between the two groups. There was one case of IABP-related complication in group I. Conclusion : IABP facilitates posterior vessel OPCAB in high risk patients, with comparable surgical results to low risk patients