Bursectomy in gastric cancer surgery: surgical technique and operative safety

Although there is little evidence that bursectomy has clinical benefit, its continuing practice imposes evaluation of bursectomy-related adverse effects, especially pancreatic fistula and intestinal obstruction. The aims of this study were to provide a detailed description of the technique of bursectomy as standardized by the authors and determine if extended surgery for gastric cancer with additional bursectomy can be performed safely in Western population. A total of 72 consecutive patients of median age 76.4 years and mean ASA score grade 2.1, who submitted to D2 or D2+ gastrectomy with additional bursectomy for gastric adenocarcinoma, were prospectively studied. Bursectomy was associated with a median additional operative time of 41 min and a median additional blood loss of 65 ml. The post-operative morbidity rate was 19.4 %. Among various adverse events, pancreatic fistula was observed in three patients (4.2 %) and intestinal obstruction was observed in eight patients (11.1 %) including two cases of delayed gastric emptying, one case of afferent loop syndrome, one case of early postoperative adhesions and four cases of prolonged postoperative ileus. The in-hospital mortality rate was 1.4 %. D2 or D2+ gastrectomy with additional bursectomy can be safely performed in Western patients. Although the incidence of pancreatic fistula that we reported was low, the incidence of bursectomy-related intestinal obstruction was high and should always be kept in mind when performing extended surgery for gastric cancer.