Effect of gastrectomy with bursectomy on prognosis of gastric cancer: A meta-analysis

AIM:To evaluate the effect of bursectomy on overall survival,recurrence-free survival and safety of patients with gastric cancer by performing a meta-analysis.METHODS:A literature search was performed in PubMed,EMBASE,and the Cochrane Library databases for clinical research that compared bursectomy with non-bursectomy published before October 2013.Inclusion and exclusion criteria were established and applied.Overall survival,recurrence-free survival,complications,hospital stay,operative time and blood loss were compared using hazard ratios(HRs),relative risks and weighted mean differences.Stata 12.0 software was used for statistical analysis.RESULTS:Four studies including 1130 patients were available for the analysis(430 in the bursectomy group,700 in the non-bursectomy group).No statistically significant difference was observed in the rate of com-plications between the bursectomy group and the nonbursectomy group.Bursectomy did not have a significant effect(combined HR=1.14,95%CI:0.88-1.47)on overall survival,and it was not a significant factor for recurrence-free survival(combined HR=1.06,95%CI:0.82-1.37).CONCLUSION:Gastrectomy with bursectomy is not superior to non-bursectomy in terms of survival.Bursectomy is not recommended as a routine procedure for the surgical treatment of gastric cancer.