Treating gastric tube cancer with distal gastrectomy preserving the gastroepiploic artery.

Total resection of the gastric tube with lymphadenectomy is standard and reliable treatment for gastric tube cancer. However the risk associated with totally removing a gastric tube previously reconstructed through the posterior mediastinal route is significant, given the need to lyse a significant number of adhesions in order to reach the mediastinum. As a less invasive procedure, we used distal gastrectomy to treat superficial gastric tube cancer in 2 patients. The distal gastric tube was mobilized and resected with preservation of the right gastroepiploic artery, and the Roux-en-Y gastrojejunostomy was used for reconstruction. This procedure was curative with less surgical stress.