Objective To investigate the efficacy of different laparoscopic surgeries for gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) of gastric cardia and fundus.

Methods The retrospective cohort study was conducted. The clinicopathological data of 251 patients with GIST of gastric cardia and fundus who underwent laparoscopic radical resection in 14 medical centers, including Guangdong Provincial People′s Hospital et al, from December 2007 to December 2021 were collected. There were 123 males and 128 females, aged 58(24,87)years. Observation indicators: (1) treatment; (2) clinicopathological data of patients undergoing different laparoscopic surgeries; (3) subgroup analysis for special laparoscopic techniques. Measurement data with normal distribution were represented as Mean±SD, and comparison between groups was conducted using the t test or ANOVA. Measure-ment data with skewed distribution were represented as M(Q₁,Q₃), and comparison between groups was conducted using the Mann‑Whitney U test or Kruskal‑Wallis H test. Count data were described as absolute numbers or percentages. Comparison of ordinal data was conducted using the rank sum test.

Results (1) Treatment. Of the 251 patients,202 cases underwent gastric wedge resection, 26 cases underwent special laparoscopic techniques including 10 cases with serotomy and dissection and 16 cases with transluminal gastrectomy, 23 cases underwent structural gastrectomy including 6 cases with total gastrectomy and 17 cases with proximal partial gastrectomy. There were 24 patients had postoperative complications after surgery. (2) Clinicopathological data of patients undergoing different laparoscopic surgeries. The gender (male, female), age, tumor diameter, operation time, volume of intraoperative blood loss, length of incision, time to postoperative initial whole liquid food intake, time to postoperative initial semi‑liquid food intake, duration of postoperative hospital stay, cases with perioperative complications, cases with mitotic count as ≤5/50 high power field, 6‒10/50 high power field, >10/50 high power field, cases be classified as very low risk, low risk, medium risk, high risk according to the National Institutes of Health risk classification, cases with tumor located at fundus and gastric cardia were 93, 109, (59±11)years, 3.50(0.40,10.00)cm, 88.00(25.00,290.00)minutes,20.00(25.00,290.00)mL, 4.00(2.00,12.00)cm, 3.00(1.00,9.00)days, 4.00(1.00,16.00)days, 5.00(1.00,18.00)days, 14, 164, 31, 7, 47, 83, 50, 22, 30, 172 in patients undergoing gastric wedge resection, respectively. The above indicators were 19, 7, (49±14)years, 2.55(0.20,5.00)cm, 101.00(59.00,330.00)minutes, 27.50(2.00,300.00)mL, 4.50(0,6.00)cm, 2.50(1.00,10.00)days, 4.00(1.00,16.00)days, 6.00(1.00,18.00)days, 3, 20, 5, 1, 15, 5, 2, 4, 24, 2 in patients undergoing special laparos-copic techniques, and 11, 12, (52±10)years, 5.00(0.80,10.00)cm, 187.00(80.00,325.00)minutes, 50.00(10.00,300.00)mL, 6.00(4.00,12.00)cm, 4.00(2.00,8.00)days, 6.00(3.00,14.00)days, 8.00(2.00,18.00)days, 7, 11, 5, 7, 2, 6, 6, 9, 13, 10 in patients undergoing structural gastrectomy. There were significant differences in the above indicators among the three groups of patients (χ²=6.75, F=10.19, H=17.71, 37.50, 35.54, 24.68, 16.09,20.20, 13.76, χ²=13.32, Z=28.98, 32.17, χ²=82.14, P<0.05). (3) Subgroup analysis for special laparoscopic techniques. The time to postoperative initial whole liquid food intake, time to postoperative initial semi‑liquid food intake, classification of tumor location (endophytic type, exophytic type, parietal type) were 4.50(1.00,10.00)days, 8.00(3.00,12.00)days, 0, 8, 2 in patients undergoing serotomy and dissection, versus 2.00(1.00,4.00)days, 3.00(1.00,6.00)days, 16, 0, 0 in patients undergoing transluminal gastrectomy. There were significant differences in time to postoperative initial whole liquid food intake, time to postoperative initial semi-liquid food intake between them (Z=-2.65, -3.16, P<0.05); and there was a significant difference in classification of tumor location between them (P<0.05).

Conclusions Gastric wedge resection is the most commonly used laparoscopic technique for GIST of gastric cardia and fundus. The application of special laparoscopic techniques is focused on the GIST of cardia to preserve the function of the cardia.