The objective of the study was to investigate the long-term survival outcomes and the related prognostic factors after laparoscopic distal gastrectomy for gastric cancer at the Department of Digestive Surgery, Viet Duc hospital from Jan. 2006 to Dec. 2012. 216 patients were included in the long-term survival analysis, including 124 males (54.7 percent) and 92 females (42.6 percent). The mean age was 57.7 +/- 12.50 years (26 - 90). The mean follow - up duration was 27.0 +/- 19.29 months (range = 1 - 80 months). A total of 81 patients were deceased at the time of analysis (Dec.2012). The median survival time (Kaplan Meier method) was 40 months (95 percent CI: 25.6 - 54.4)
the 1 - 3 5 years over survival time (acturiel method) encountered in 81 percent - 48 percent and 36 percent respectively. By univariable analysis, the following factors were considered significantly related to survival time: gender, age ( or 65 years old), pathological staging (AJCC 7th), pT, pN and N - ratio ( or 0.2). But by multiple regression (Cox regression), only age (p = 0.009), pT (p = 0.001) and N - ratio (p = 0.000) were considered as independent risk factors for death after surgery. The results of this study showed that laparoscopic assisted distal gastrectomy plus D2 lymph nodes dissection for gastric cancer was considered as a safe, effective procedure, and passed the oncological criteria of a curative surgical therapy.