Importance: The safety of laparoscopic total gastrectomy (LTG) for the treatment of gastric cancer remains uncertain given the lack of high-level clinical evidence.
Objective: To compare the safety of LTG for clinical stage I gastric cancer with that of conventional open total gastrectomy (OTG).
Design, setting, and participants: The Chinese Laparoscopic Gastrointestinal Surgery Study (CLASS) Group CLASS02 study was a prospective, multicenter, open-label, noninferiority, randomized clinical trial that compared the safety of LTG vs OTG with lymphadenectomy for patients with clinical stage I gastric cancer. From January 2017 to September 2018, a total of 227 patients were enrolled. Final follow-up was in October 2018.
Interventions: Eligible patients were randomized to LTG (n = 113) or OTG (n = 114) by an interactive web response system.
Main outcomes and measures: The primary outcome was the morbidity and mortality within 30 days following surgeries between LTG and OTG with a noninferiority margin of 10%. The secondary outcomes were recovery courses and postoperative hospital stays.
Results: A total of 214 patients were analyzed for morbidity and mortality (105 patients in the LTG group and 109 patients in the OTG group). The mean (SD) age was 59.8 (9.4) years in the LTG group and 59.4 (9.2) years in the OTG group, and most were male (LTG group, 75 of 105 [71.4%]; OTG group, 80 of 109 [73.4%]). The overall morbidity and mortality rates were not significantly different between the groups (rate difference, -1.1%; 95% CI, -11.8% to 9.6%). Intraoperative complications occurred in 3 patients (2.9%) in the LTG group and 4 patients (3.7%) in the OTG group (rate difference, -0.8%; 95% CI, -6.5% to 4.9%). In addition, there was no significant difference in the overall postoperative complication rate of 18.1% in the LTG group and 17.4% in the OTG group (rate difference, 0.7%; 95% CI, -9.6% to 11.0%). One patient in the LTG group died from intra-abdominal bleeding secondary to splenic artery hemorrhage. However, there was no significant difference in mortality between the LTG group and the OTG group (rate difference, 1.0%; 95% CI, -2.5% to 5.2%), and the distribution of complication severity was similar between the 2 groups.
Conclusions and relevance: The results of the CLASS02 trial showed that the safety of LTG with lymphadenectomy by experienced surgeons for clinical stage I gastric cancer was comparable to that of OTG.
Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03007550.