The nutritional advantages of proximal gastrectomy for early gastric cancer

Background/Aims: Total gastrectomy has generally been performed for the tre atment of early gastric cancers involving the upper third of the stomach. H owever, proximal gastrectomy has also been used for the treatment of cardia l early gastric cancer, Methodology: To compare the nutritional parameters after proximal gastrecto my with the parameters after total gastrectomy, and to also determine the a dvantages of the postoperative nutritional states, a retrospective analysis was made to evaluate the nutritional status of patients with early gastric cancer who underwent proximal gastrectomy with those undergoing total gast rectomy. Forty-nine patients were studied for one year after surgery; 9 und erwent proximal gastrectomy while 40 had a total gastrectomy. Results: Proximal gastrectomy allowed the patient to better maintain both t heir nutritional parameters and body weight. Conclusions: Proximal gastrectomy was thus found to be a beneficial modalit y for early gastric cancer patients regarding terms of the postoperative nu tritional status, in comparison to total gastrectomy.