Objective: To explore the clinical effect of laparoscopic-assisted radical gastrectomy for distal gastric cancer.Methods:Clinical date of the gastric cancer patients who received 1aparoscopy-assisted gastrectomy (LAG) or open gastrectomy (OG) from August 2013 to August 2015 were reviewed and divided into LAG group and OG group.Results: There were no significant differences in the number of lymph node dissection and the distance of tumor margins between LAG group and OG group (P＞0.05); the intraoperative bleeding amount was (167.6 ± 34.5) mL in LAG group, which was less than (215.7 ± 42.1) mL in OG group (t=5.430,P=0.000); the operation time was longer than that in OG group (t= -2.905, P＜0.05); the complication rate was 12.8 % in LAG group and 22.2 % in OG group, which had no statistically significant difference between the two groups (χ²=1.155,P=0.283). The recovery time of gastrointestinal function in LAG group was (57.9 ±7.9) h, which was shorter than that in OG group (63.7 ± 6.5)h (t=3.455, P＜0.05); the average hospitalization time in LAG group was (11.4 ±4.3) d, shorter than that in OG group (15.6 ± 3.9) d (t=4.418, P=0.000). The local recurrence rates were 7.69 % and 8.33 % in LAG group and OG group respectively, and the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant (χ²=0.010, P=0.918); the distant metastasis rates were 5.12 % and 8.33 %, and the difference was not statistically significant (χ²=0.309, P=0.578).Conclusion: LAG has similar effects compared with OG in curing distal gastric cancer, but it has minimal trauma, less blood loss, and faster recovery.