OBJECTIVETo compare the long-term survival and postoperative complications of distal gastric cancer patients between Billroth I((BI() and Billroth II((BII() reconstruction.

METHODSClinicopathological data of 992 patients with distal gastric cancer who underwent D2 curative gastrectomy in our department from May 2008 to April 2015 were recorded, including 207 patients of BI( reconstruction and 785 of BII( reconstruction, were retrospectively analyzed. Patients presenting a previous history of cancer, gastric resection or cytotoxic chemotherapy, and those presenting liver or intraperitoneal tumor dissemination or unresectable infiltration into contiguous organs were excluded. Patients in BI( and BII( group were selected using gmatch methods based on age (±10 years), gender, tumor size (±1 cm), differentiated degree and depth of invasion in order to reduce the selection bias of clinicopathological characteristics. The final number of patients matched was 191 respectively.

RESULTSCompared with BII( group, the BI( group had a significantly shorter operation time (181.7 min vs. 220.7 min, P=0.000) and a shorter postoperative hospitalization stay (7.6 days vs. 8.1 days, P=0.046). The postoperative complications including anastomotic leakage, wound dehiscence, wound infection, intraperitoneal hemorrhage, intestinal obstruction, duodenal stump fistula, pulmonary infection and fever had no significant difference(P>0.05). Three-year survival between two groups was comparable (82.9% vs. 78.7%, P=0.379).

CONCLUSIONSCompared with BII(, BI( reconstruction is more suitable for patients with distal gastric cancer.