Significance of prophylactic intra-abdominal drain placement after laparoscopic distal gastrectomy for gastric cancer

Background Unnecessary intra-abdominal drain insertion must be avoided, but little is known about the value of prophylactic drainage following laparoscopic distal gastrectomy (LDG). In this study, we investigated the significance of prophylactic drain placement after LDG for gastric cancer. Methods Seventy-eight consecutive patients with gastric cancer who underwent LDG in our department were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into two groups according to the insertion of a prophylactic intra-abdominal drain following LDG. The ‘drain group’ comprised 45 patients with routine use of a prophylactic intra-abdominal drain, and the ‘no-drain group’ comprised 33 patients who did not undergo placement of an intra-abdominal drain. Results There were no significant differences in terms of the mean age of the patients, male/female ratio, body mass index, and concurrent diseases between the drain group and the no-drain group. In addition, there were no significant differences in the tumor location, tumor diameter, depth of the tumor, nodal metastasis, and tumor stage between the two groups. All patients in each group were successfully treated with R0 surgery, and no patient required conversion to open surgery. Surgery-related factors, including lymph node dissection and operative time, were similar in the drain group and the no-drain group. A comparison of the amount of intraoperative blood loss between patients with and without postoperative complications revealed that patients who experienced postoperative complications had a significantly larger amount of blood loss than those without postoperative complications. A comparison of operative times between patients with and without surgery-related postoperative local complications revealed that patients who experienced surgery-related postoperative local complications had a significantly longer operative time than those without surgery-related postoperative local complications. Analysis of operative times in each group revealed that patients with surgery-related postoperative local complications had a significantly longer operative time than those without surgery-related postoperative local complications in the no-drain group. Conclusions Intraoperative factors such as the operative time and the amount of intraoperative blood loss affected the occurrence of postoperative complications following LDG. A prophylactic drain may thus be useful in patients at higher risk and in those with a longer operative time or massive intraoperative bleeding.