Laparoscopy Assisted Subtotal Gastrectomy in Gastric Cancer Patient with Situs Inversus in Korea

Situs inversus totalis is a congenital condition in which there is complete right to left reversal of the thoracic and abdominal organ. According to an increase in minimally invasive treatments, laparoscopic surgery for patients with situs inversus totalis has also been increasing. We performed laparoscopy-assisted subtotal gastrectomy on a 60-year-old gastric cancer patient with situs inversus totalis. He was diagnosed with early stage gastric adenocarcinoma at antrum of the anterior wall. We experienced some technical difficulties because of the position and anatomic variation of major vessels. However, the subtotal gastrectomy was completed with D1 + beta lymph node dissection followed by extracorporeal gastroduodenostomy. The patient was discharged six days after operation without any complications. The pathologic report showed that tumor invasion was limited to the submucosa and one lymph node was positive for metastasis. We believe our experience is the first reported case of laparoscopic gastric cancer surgery for situs inversus in Korea. (J Korean Surg Soc 2010;79:513-517)