Gastric retraction time as a metric for comparing suspension techniques in laparoscopic pancreatic resection:a retrospective cohort study

Background To compare the impact of a novel versus a traditional gastric suspension technique on gastric retraction time and its associated clinical benefits, and to investigate the clinical value of gastric retraction time as a core indicator for evaluating the efficacy of gastric suspension techniques in laparoscopic pancreatic surgery. Methods Clinical data of 98 patients who underwent laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy or local pancreatic resection between January 2021 and July 2025 were retrospectively analyzed. Among them, 52 patients were treated with a proposed triangular anchoring gastric suspension technique (experimental group), while 46 patients received the conventional double-point fixation gastric suspension technique previously used at our center (control group). Using gastric retraction time as the primary evaluation metric, operative time, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative complications, and length of hospital stay were compared between the two groups. The predictive value of this metric was validated using ROC curve analysis and univariate and multivariate analyses. Results The novel suspension technique significantly shortened gastric retraction time and reduced total operative time, without increasing suspension-related complications. No significant difference was observed in the overall complication rate between the two groups. Multivariate analysis identified the suspension technique as the strongest independent predictor of gastric retraction time, while maximum tumor diameter and the type of surgical procedure also significantly influenced gastric retraction time. Conclusion Gastric retraction time can serve as a key quantitative indicator for evaluating gastric suspension techniques. The novel technique significantly enhances surgical efficiency by optimizing surgical field exposure and shortening this time, proving to be both safe and feasible. Trial registration Clinical trial number: not applicable.