Although totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy (TLDG) and laparoscopic-assisted distal gastrectomy (LADG) are both minimally invasive surgeries for gastric cancer with the same surgical treatment principles, in the former, all surgical processes are performed intracorporeally, while, in the latter, extracorporeal gastro-enteric anastomosis is achieved. Whether the procedural differences between TLDG and LADG affect quality of life （QOL）is still under debate.To evaluate how each laparoscopic surgery affect QOL of patients with gastric cancer, it is necessary to compare the postoperative QOL (scoring by questionnaire) between the patients undergoing TLDG and LADG through a multi-center randomized controlled trial.
The aim of this study is comparing the short-term quality of life between laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy and totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy for gastric cancer.