Radical Lymph Node Dissection Along the Proximal Splenic Artery During Laparoscopic Gastrectomy for Gastric Cancer Using the Left Lateral Approach.

BACKGROUND: Recent technical improvements allow safe laparoscopic lymph node dissection (LND) in gastric cancer.1 , 2 In suprapancreatic LND, careful LND around the celiac artery (CA) is essential. From a patient's right side, deep LND is performed around the right side of the CA after dissecting around the common hepatic artery (CHA). For LND around the left side of the CA on the same operative axis as the right side, we developed a new procedure for LND along the proximal splenic artery (SA), performed from the patient's left side.

METHODS: After LND around the CHA and right side of the CA from the patient's right side, the surgeon then moves to the patient's left side. The anterior pancreatic fascia is cut at the middle point of the SA to discern the dorsal layer of the LN along the SA, such as the splenic vein. LND is performed by preserving the posterior pancreatic fascia around the SA in a left-to-right direction. Finally, the LNs around the left side of the CA are deeply dissected.

RESULTS: We performed this procedure on ten patients between April 2016 and January 2017; no operative complications were reported in grade II or higher cancer patients.3 After exposing the dorsal landmark, LNs around the proximal SA and left side of the CA were removed in all patients.

CONCLUSION: This procedure enables early identification of the dorsal layer and deep LND around the left side of the CA, keeping this layer. The left lateral approach is useful for radical LND along the proximal SA.