[Laparoscopic surgery for early gastric cancer--its advantages and pitfalls].

We have successfully treated 50 patients with early gastric cancer by using two different laparoscopic procedures since March 1992. which are laparoscopic wedge resection of the stomach using a lesion-lifting method (n = 33) and laparoscopic intragastric mucosal resection (n = 17). The indication is as follows; (A) mucosal cancer, (B) < 25 mm, if the lesion is protruded type, (C) < 15 mm and Ul(-), if the lesion is depressive type. The advantages of these methods are; 1) minimally invasiveness. 2) sufficient surgical margin, 3) feasibility of detailed histology, 4) feasibility of perigastric lymph node dissection. In contrast, there are several problems to be solved, which are; 1) preoperative diagnostic accuracy of the depth of cancer invasion, 2) possibility of reoperation because of sm invasion or lymphatic or venous invasion in final histology, 3) possibility of postoperative stenosis after laparoscopic intragastric mucosal resection for the lesion near the cardia, 4) incidence of metachronous multiple gastric cancer.