Table 2. Study Characteristics.

Authors	Year	Journal name	Article name	Design	Outcomes	Follow-up period (months)
						L	O
Catena et al	2008 [1]	Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery	Laparoscopic treatment of gastric GIST: report of 21 cases and literature’s review	RCS	LOS OR time Adverse events Conversion rate Overall survival EBL Recurrence rate	Mean: 35	Mean: 91
Nishimura et al	2007 [3]	Surgical Endoscopy	Surgical strategy for gastric gastrointestinal stromal tumors: laparoscopic vs. open resection	RCS	OR time Conversion rate EBL Recurrence rate	Median: 19	Median: 31
Karakousis et al	2011 [10]	Annals of Surgical Oncology	Laparoscopic versus open gastric resections for primary gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs): a size-matched comparison	CCS	LOS OR time Adverse events Overall survival EBL Recurrence rate	Median: 28	Median: 43
Matthews et al	2002 [11]	Surgical Endoscopy	Laparoscopic vs. open resection of gastric stromal tumors	RCS	LOS OR time Adverse events EBL Recurrence rate	Mean: 20	Mean: 18
Pitsinis et al	2007 [12]	Hepato-Gastroenterology	Single center experience of laparoscopic vs. open resection for gastrointestinal stromal tumors of the stomach	RCS	LOS OR time Adverse events Recurrence rate	Median: 9	Median: 9
Silberhumer et al	2009 [13]	Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery	Surgery for gastrointestinal stromal tumors of the stomach	RCS	LOS Adverse events Conversion rate Recurrence rate	Mean: 30	Mean: 41
Wu et al	2010 [14]	Journal of Laparoscopic and Advanced Surgical Techniques	Gasless laparoscopy-assisted versus open resection for gastrointestinal stromal tumors of the upper stomach: preliminary results	RCS	LOS OR time Adverse events Pain score Conversion rate Overall survival EBL	N/A	N/A

RCS: retrospective cohort study; CCS: case-control study; BMI: body mass index; LOS: length of stay; OR time: operating room time; EBL: estimated blood loss; Med: median; N/A: not available; L: laparoscopic group; O: open group.