RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Effect of Hospital Volume on Long-term Outcomes of Laparoscopic Gastrectomy for Clinical Stage I Gastric Cancer JF Anticancer Research JO Anticancer Res FD International Institute of Anticancer Research SP 5165 OP 5170 VO 33 IS 11 A1 DAISUKE ICHIKAWA A1 SHUHEI KOMATSU A1 TAKESHI KUBOTA A1 KAZUMA OKAMOTO A1 KATSUYA DEGUCHI A1 HIDEMASA TAMAI A1 TAKAYOSHI OBAYASHI A1 KAZUTOMO KITAGAWA A1 KOJI SOGA A1 KOJI INOUE A1 NOBUKI YAMAOKA A1 TSUTOMU IMANISHI A1 AKEO HAGIWARA A1 EIGO OTSUJI YR 2013 UL http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/33/11/5165.abstract AB Background: This study aimed to examine the effect of hospital volume on long-term outcomes of patients who underwent laparoscopic gastrectomy for clinical stage I gastric cancer. Patients and Methods: A total of 420 patients with clinical stage I gastric cancer who underwent laparoscopic gastrectomy at our university hospital (high-volume group) and affiliated hospitals (low-volume group) were included in this study. Overall survival (OS) and cause-specific survival (CSS) rates were analyzed. Results: No significant differences were observed in the number of lymph nodes retrieved (29.9 vs. 27.7, p=0.21) and CSS between the high- and low-volume groups (p=0.92), although the OS rate in the low-volume group was significantly less than that in the high-volume group (p=0.045). Conclusion: These results indicate no clinical impact of hospital volume on prognosis of patients who underwent laparoscopic gastrectomy for clinical stage I gastric cancer when performed by surgeons with sufficient experience in open gastrectomy.