Perspective of new techniques overcoming laparoscopic sentinel node biopsy for early gastric cancer

The modern standard curative procedure for early gastric cancers falling outside the indication parameters for endoscopic resection is laparoscope-assisted gastrectomy with lymph node dissection. Patients undergoing standard gastrectomy with lymph node dissection experience postgastrectomy symptoms. These symptoms often pose life-long problems for patients. Thus, lymph node dissection should be avoided to preserve the stomach, alleviate the aforementioned symptoms, and improve postoperative quality of life. At present, sentinel lymph node (SN) biopsy is the most reliable method for identification of node-negative cases.