Abstract
Context
Role of bypass as a palliative surgery for advanced gastric cancer remains controversial.Aims
To determine the role of bypass in advanced gastric cancer in comparision to resection as gold standard.Design
Hospital based retrospective outcome studyMethods
Patients were divided into three groups: group I (gastric resection), group II (bypass) and group III (exploratory laparotomy alone). The three groups were analysed for palliation of symptoms, operative morbidity & mortality and survival.Statistical analysis used
Chi-square, Fischer, One-way Anova, Unpaired-t, Kaplan-Meier analysisResults
In-hospital morbidity was 19.38% (19 patients) for the entire study group. Bypass group had a lower morbidity rate as compared to the resection group (p=0.029). Inhospital mortality rate was 6.12% (6 patients) for the entire study group. Mortality rates did not differ between the groups. Patient satisfaction with palliation of symptoms was similar between gastric bypass and resection. Gastric resection group had significantly better survival (p=0.002) compared to the non resective procedures. However, gastric bypass did not confer any survival benefit over exploratory laparotomy. (p=0.501)kw]Conclusions Gastric bypass can be done when resection is not possible as it palliates symptoms on par with resection and is associated with low operative morbidity though it does not improve the survival outlook of patients.