Table 1.
Background factors between the study groups
| Group F | Group C | P value | |
| n | 24 | 32 | |
| Age, median (range) | 69 (51-82) | 66 (39-90) | NS |
| Sex, male/female | 18 /6 | 25/7 | NS |
| BMI, median (range) | 23.2 (15.9-28.7) | 21.9 (14.6-27.7) | NS |
| Location, U/M/L | 2/12/10 | 5/12/15 | NS |
| Tumor size, mm (mean ± SD) | 50.9 ± 31.3 | 54.6 ± 26.1 | NS |
| McT, 0/1/2/3/4/5 | 12/0/3/7/1/1 | 14/1/7/4/3/3 | NS |
| sT factor, 1/2/3/4 | 8/1/3/12 | 12/2/8/10 | NS |
| sN factor, 0/1/2/3 | 9/4/6/5 | 20/7/3/2 | NS |
| Approach, open/laparoscopic | 17/7 | 27/5 | NS |
| Surgery, DG/TG | 22/2 | 26/6 | NS |
| D number, 1+/2 | 14/10 | 19/13 | NS |
| pN factor. 0/1/2/3 | 8/5/2/9 | 16/5/7/4 | NS |
NS: No significance; Group F: Fat dissociation group; Group C: Conventional harvesting group; BMI: Body mass index; McT: Macroscopic type (Borrmann); sT: Surgical diagnosis of depth of invasion; sN: Surgical diagnosis of nodal metastasis; DG: Distal gastrectomy; TG: Total gastrectomy; D number: Degree of lymph node dissection; pN: Pathological diagnosis of nodal metastasis.