The role of laparoscopic distal gastrectomy in elderly patients.

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to search in the recent literature for scientific evidence about the role of laparoscopic distal gastrectomy (LDG) in the treatment of gastric cancer (GC) in elderly patients. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: An analysis of the literature of the last twenty years (from 2001 to 2021) was then carried out. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: It showed how the characteristics of the general population, which is aging, and of patients undergoing surgery for GC, also increasingly elderly and, therefore, more fragile, have changed. CONCLUSIONS: We have traced the evolution of minimally invasive treatment, with specific regard to LDG, highlighting how this method is not only able to allow an oncologically correct treatment similar to the traditional technique, but, above all, offers short-term advantages especially in elderly patients.