Fifty patients with gastric cancer at México Hospital have been operated using a new, less invasive technique. Laparoscopic gastrectomy is characterized by requiring very small and more aesthetic wounds, because it implies a faster recovery, less pain, fewer complications and a reinsertion into daily life in less time.
This technique is applied in patients with early stomach cancer. Doctors Eduardo Trujillo and José Murillo, specialists in General Surgery and pioneers in this type of procedure in the country, explained that this is already a routine procedure in the General Surgery Service of that hospital.
It consists in the extraction of the affected part of the stomach by means of 4 or 5 holes that are made in the abdomen. The doctors explained that the fundamental requirement to avoid open surgery and be a candidate for laparoscopy is that the patient’s tumor is detected early, that is, that it does not exceed the first layer of the stomach (mucosa and submucosa) and has not extended to lymph nodes and other organs.
This procedure can take from three to four hours, and it stands out because it allows to minimize surgical aggression for the patient, which translates into a better evolution.
At Mexico Hospital, about 110 patients with gastric cancer are operated per year, but only 10% are detected in early stages.
The doctors stressed that it is necessary to insist on the importance of maintaining some preventive measures, such as having a healthy diet rich in fruits and vegetables, avoiding smoked foods and excess salt, also respecting meal times, physical activity and not smoking, as well as performing a gastroscopy at age 50 and repeating it every two years after this age.