Impact of Visceral Fat on Laparoscopy-assisted Distal Gastrectomy

Background: Obesity is known to be a preoperative risk factor for gastric cancer surgery. However, the influence of obesity on laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy (LADG) remains controversial. In the present study, we evaluated several obesity parameters and investigated the influence of obesity on the surgical outcomes of LADG for gastric cancer.

Materials And Methods: Between January 2010 and July 2011, 84 patients who underwent LADG for gastric cancer were enrolled. Visceral fat area (VFA) and subcutaneous fat area (SFA) were measured in cross-sectional CT scan using SlimVision(®) software. Patients were classified into two groups by the degree of BMI or VFA. Surgery time and blood loss were compared between each two groups. Predictive factors for perioperative complications were assessed by univariate and multivariate analyses.

Results: There were no significant differences in surgery time or blood loss between patients with high and low BMIs. In contrast, high VFA patients had significantly longer surgery times (p=0.0047) and higher estimated blood loss (p=0.0034) than low VFA patients. By univariate and multivariate analyses, only a high VFA significantly predicted perioperative complications (p=0.0162, p=0.0288).

Conclusions: We suggest that VFA is more accurate than BMI in predicting surgery time, blood loss, and perioperative complications associated with LADG for gastric cancer. The visceral fat area could be efficiently assessed before laparoscopic surgery for gastric cancer in obese patients.