Gastric cancer and the importance of laparoscopic exploration

Stomach cancer remains a public health problem worldwide. Its high incidence and, above all, the fact that it is often diagnosed at an advanced stage, mean that its prognosis remains equally bleak. Treatment options for patients with this cancer are based on tumor staging and resectability. The only radical treatment is carcinological surgery. For this, an exhaustive evaluation is imperative for optimal treatment. Exploratory laparoscopy is a major tool, more reliable than any preoperative radiomorphological examination, for assessing cancer extension, enabling tumors to be classified as resectable or unresectable, in order to avoid unnecessary laparotomy, a source of significant morbidity and mortality. The aim of this paper is to review the literature on gastric cancer, and to examine the question of whether exploratory laparoscopy should be performed systematically for gastric cancer. In this way, we have demonstrated its relevance and unavailability in their exploration, as it has been well recommended by all learned societies worldwide.