Objective:To compare surgery-related indicators, patient recovery status, perioperative complications and risk factors affecting the occurrence of postoperative grade Ⅲ or higher complications in patients undergoing laparoscopic gastric mesenchymal tumor surgery with different visceral fat areas.Methods:Clinical data of 116 patients with gastric interstitial tumor in Shaanxi Provincial People′s Hospital from April 2014 to June 2020 were retrospectively analyzed, including 44 male patients and 72 female patients, with patient aged from 25 to 88 years old and the mean age was (61.8±10.7) years, including 54 patients in the high VFA group and 62 patients in the low VFA group. SPSS 23.0 was used for statistical analysis, and t-test and χ2 test were applied to compare and analyze the patients′ surgery-related indexes, postoperative recovery status, complications within 30 d after surgery and differences in Clavien-Dindo classification of complications, while univariate and multifactorial analyses were used to study the factors affecting the occurrence of postoperative grade Ⅲ or higher complications. Results:Patients in the high VFA group had a higher body mass index than in the low VFA group, and the difference was statistically significant ( t=4.48, P<0.001); patients in the high VFA group had longer operative time ( t=2.88, P=0.005), more intraoperative bleeding ( t=2.17, P=0.032), longer period of fasting ( t=2.73, P=0.008), longer time for defecation ( t=4.46, P<0.001) and bowel movement ( t=4.62, P<0.001), and longer postoperative hospital stay ( t=3.43) compared with those in the low VFA group ( t=2.73, P=0.001), prolonged defecation ( t=4.46), prolonged bowel movement ( t=4.62), and prolonged postoperative hospitalization ( t=3.43), with statistically significant differences ( P<0.05); the incidence of postoperative complications was significantly higher in the high VFA group (31.4%) compared with the low VFA group (14.5%) ( χ2=4.78, P=0.029); among them, the incidence of postoperative pulmonary infection was significantly higher in patients in the high VFA group (12.9%) compared with those in the low VFA group (1.6%), and the difference between them was statistically significant ( χ2=4.16, P<0.05); while the differences in postoperative incision-related complications, anastomotic fistula, lower limb venous thrombosis, and intestinal obstruction were not statistically significant ( P>0.05). The incidence of postoperative complications above grade Ⅲ of the Clavien-Dindo complication classification was significantly higher in patients in the high VFA group (16.7%) compared with those in the low VFA group (4.8%), and the difference between the two was statistically significant ( χ2=4.35, P<0.05); univariate analysis revealed that operative time ≥300 min and increased VFA were the risk factors for postoperative grade Ⅲ or higher complications, while VFA was not an independent risk factor. Conclusion:Larger visceral fat area increases the difficulty of laparoscopic gastric mesenchymal tumor surgery operation, and also affects patients′ postoperative recovery, leading to increased postoperative complications, but VFA is not an independent risk factor affecting the occurrence of postoperative grade Ⅲ or higher complications in patients with gastric mesenchymal tumor.