Abstract
Early results and postoperative quality of life (QOL) in patients with early gastric cancer who underwent gastrectomy with D1 lymph node dissection (D1 group, n=69) were compared with those who underwent gastrectomy with D2 dissection (D2 group, n=179). The incidence of preoperative complications was significantly higher in the D1 group (75.3%) than that in the D2 group (53.0%) (p<0.001). Mean operative time was significantly shorter in the D1 group (175 min) than in the D2 group (211 min). Mean intraoperative blood loss was also less in the D1 group (379 g) than in the D2 group (426g), but the difference was not significant. The incidence of intra-abdominal complications, including anastomotic leakage and intestinal obstruction, was nerver seen in the D1 group. There were no differences in performance status or occurrence of dumping between the two groups. We devised a QOL score that was composed of nine categories of quality of life. The QOL score was classified into three degrees (good, fair and poor). We could not find any difference according to the QOL score between the two groups. It was concluded that gastrectomy with Dl dissection can be done with minimal morbidity but has no other merit compared with gastrectomy with D2 dissection.
