Objective To investigate the application value of laparoscopic intra-gastric surgery (LIGS) in the treatment of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) around the cardia.

Methods The retrospective and descriptive study was conducted. The clinicopathological data of 5 patients who underwent LIGS for GIST around the cardia in the Renji Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine from January 2019 to December 2021 were collected. There were 3 males and 2 females, aged 52(range, 35‒69)years. All patients underwent LIGS. Observation indicators: (1) intraoperative and postoperative conditions; (2) follow-up. Follow-up was conducted using tele-phone interview or outpatient examination. Patients were followed up once every 3 months to detect long-term complications and tumor recurrence up to April 1st, 2022. Measurement data with skewed distribution were represented as M(range) and count data were described as absolute numbers.

Results (1) Intraoperative and postoperative conditions. All 5 patients underwent LIGS successfully, without conversion to laparotomy or changes in surgical methods. Intraoperative tumor exploration showed that the tumor was located on the lesser curvature of the cardia in 3 patients and on the posterior wall of the gastric fundus in 2 patients. The distance between the tumor and the dentate line of the cardia was 1.5(range, 1.0‒3.0)cm. Of the 5 patients, 3 cases with tumor patholo-gically evaluable margins as 0.3, 0.8, and 1.5 cm and 2 cases without tumor pathologically evaluable margins but the tumor had an intact capsule. The operation time, volume of intraoperative blood loss, time to postoperative first anal exsufflation, time to postoperative initial fluid diet intake, time to extubation and duration of postoperative hospital stay were 75(range, 65‒112)minutes, 25(range, 15‒70)mL, 2(range, 1‒3)days, 3(range, 2‒4)days, 4(range, 3‒5)days and 6(range, 5‒8)days in the 5 patients. There was no short-term postoperative complication such as bleeding, anastomotic leakage, and gastroparesis in the 5 patients and results of postoperative histopathological examina-tion showed GIST in all 5 patients, with tumor diameter as 3.0(range, 1.8‒5.5)cm. There were 2 patients with tumor diameter ≤2.0 cm and 3 patients with tumor diameter ≥3.0 cm. The 5 patients were classified as very low risk in 2 cases, low risk in 2 cases, and intermediate risk in 1 case. (2) Follow-up. All 5 patients were followed up after operation, with the follow-up time of 9(range, 3‒15)months. During the follow-up, there was no long-term complication such as dysphagia and gastroesophageal reflux, and no recurrence or metastasis of tumor occurred in patients by computed tomography examinations.

Conclusion LIGS can be used for the treatment of GIST around the cardia.