Table 2 Comparison of postoperative conditions between the two groups

Operative time (min)

183.9 ± 51.7

187.2 ± 50.5

− 0.471

0.638

Blood loss (mL)

87.1 ± 101.2

47.0 ± 60.4

2.541

0.011

Notch length^a (cm)

6.5 ± 0.8

1.3 ± 0.4

3.502

0.001

Harvested lymph node (pieces)

13.6 ± 5.0

13.7 ± 5.8

− 0.102

0.919

Positive lymph node (pieces)

1.1 ± 2.6

0.7 ± 1.6

1.427

0.155

Positive margin

0 (0)

0 (0)

NA

NA

Intraoperative complications

0 (0)

0 (0)

NA

NA

Grade

2.912

0.233

 Well-differentiated

23 (21.7%)

23 (21.7%)

 Moderately-differentiated

77 (72.6%)

70 (66.0%)

 Poor-differentiated

6 (5.7%)

13 (12.3%)

Histology

0.712

0.701

 Adenocarcinoma

100 (94.3%)

99 (93.4%)

 Tubular adenocarcinoma

3 (2.8%)

2 (1.9%)

 Mucinous

3 (2.8%)

5 (4.7%)

Usage of additional analgesics

56 (52.8%)

39 (36.8%)

5.512

0.019

VAS scores

/

 < 0.001*

 Day 1 postoperatively

4.16 ± 1.36

3.29 ± 1.32

 Day 3 postoperatively

3.29 ± 1.13

2.46 ± 1.17

 Day 5 postoperatively

1.93 ± 0.78

1.53 ± 0.72

Time to recovery of gastrointestinal function (hour)

58.6 ± 28.5

50.7 ± 27.3

2.065

0.040

Length of total hospital stays (day)

13.0 ± 4.3

10.2 ± 6.6

3.713

 < 0.001

Postoperative complication

16 (15.5%)

6 (5.7%)

5.407

0.020

 Anastomotic leakage

1 (0.9%)

2 (1.9%)

 Intra-abdominal infection

1 (0.9%)

0 (0%)

 Ileus

1 (0.9%)

0 (0%)

 Pneumonia

2 (1.9%)

1 (0.9%)

 Incision-related complications

11 (10.4%)

3 (2.8%)

 Pulmonary embolism

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

Postoperative PFDI-20 scores

6.47 ± 1.87

6.56 ± 1.35

− 0.378

0.706

Medical expenses (RMB)

71,280 ± 17,870

72,085 ± 20,265

− 0.306

0760