AIM:To investigate celiac artery variations in gastric cancer patients and the impact on gastric cancer surgery, and also to discuss the value of the ultrasonic knife in reducing the risk caused by celiac artery variations.
METHODS:A retrospective analysis was conducted to investigate the difference in average operation time, intraoperative blood loss, number of harvested lymph nodes, average postoperative drainage within 3 d, and postoperative hospital stay between the group with vascular variations and no vascular variations, and between the ultrasonic harmonic scalpel and conventional electric scalpel surgery group.
RESULTS:One hundred and fifty-eight cases presented with normal celiac artery, and 80 presented with celiac artery variation (33.61%). The average operation time, blood loss, average drainage within 3 d after surgery in the celiac artery variation group were significantly more than in the no celiac artery variation group (215.7 ± 32.7 min vs 204.2 ± 31.3 min, 220.0 ± 56.7 mL vs 163.1 ± 52.3 mL, 193.6 ± 41.4 mL vs 175.3 ± 34.1 mL, respectively, P < 0.05). In celiac artery variation patients, the average operation time, blood loss, average drainage within 3 d after surgery in the ultrasonic harmonic scalpel group were significantly lower than in the conventional electric scalpel surgery group (209.5 ± 34.9 min vs 226.9 ± 29.4 min, 207.5 ± 57.1 mL vs 235.6 ± 52.9 mL, 184.4 ± 38.2 mL vs 205.0 ± 42.9 mL, respectively, P < 0.05), and the number of lymph node dissections was significantly higher than in the conventional surgery group (25.5 ± 9.2 vs 19.9 ± 7.8, P < 0.05).
CONCLUSION: Celiac artery variation increases the
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Study of celiac artery variations and related surgical techniques in gastric cancerand the effect of vascular variation on gastric cancer surgery outcome among 238 patients receiving radical gastrectomy, meanwhile addressing the efficacy of ultrasound harmonic scalpel in minimizing risk due to vascular variation, so as to provide a reference for guiding gastric cancer treatment in clinical practice.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
General informationTwo hundred and thirty-eight patients undergoing D2 radical gastrectomy by well experienced general surgeons in our department from January 2009 to May 2014 were included; the detailed information of tumor staging can be seen in Figure 1. All patients provided informed consent, and signed agreements. All the patients were preoperatively examined, through upper abdominal 64 multi-slice computed tomography angiography (MSCTA), to determine whether there was variation in the celiac trunk and its branches, wherein the abnormal hepatic artery was classified with reference to Hiatt's [4] classification.
Inclusion and exclusion criteriaInclusion criteria: (1) preoperative pathology via gastroscopic biopsy indicated gastric cancer; (2) preoperative MSCTA was taken; (3) preoperative assessment showed indications for D2 radical surgery; (4) preoperative assessment showed no evident surgical contraindication; and (5) D2 or D2+ radical su...