OBJECTIVETo evaluate the effect of laparoscopic surgery in resection of suspected gastrointestinal stromal tumors.

METHODSA retrospective analysis was conducted among 50 patients with suspected gastrointestinal stromal tumors. All the patients underwent laparoscopic tumor resection. Thirty-eight of the patients had a preoperative diagnosis of gastric submucosa tumor by gastroscopy, and 12 had a diagnosis of small intestinal tumor by small intestinal endoscopy. The surgical procedure, operative time, estimated blood loss, time for passage of flatus, time for eating, postoperative hospital stay, operative complications, pathology and the results of follow-up were analyzed.

RESULTSIn these cases, the mean operative time was 90.84-/+26.69 min, with the mean estimated blood loss of 57.80-/+67.48 ml, mean time for passage of flatus of 50.90-/+18.87 h, mean time for eating of 2.94-/+0.79 days, and postoperative hospital stay of 8.62-/+3.56 days. No patient developed surgical complications, and all the lesions showed negative results on the margins of the resection.

CONCLUSIONAs a minimally invasive surgical approach, laparoscopic resection of suspected gastrointestinal stromal tumors reduces the intraoperative blood loss, promotes postoperative recovery of the patients and achieves R0 resection without causing serious complications.