Background: To investigate the oncological feasibility and technical safety of laparoscopic gastrectomy with D2 lymphadenectomy for advanced gastric cancer. Methods: 186 advanced gastric cancer patients treated by gastrectomy with D2 lymphadenectomy were eligible for inclusion including those with invasion into the muscularis propria, subserosa, and serosa without involvement of other organs, and stages N0–2 and M0. We retrospectively compared the short- and-long term outcomes between laparoscopic gastrectomy and open gastrectomy. Results: We analyzed short-term outcomes by comparing distal- with total gastrectomy results. We found no significant difference for distal gastrectomy for postoperative morbidity (laparoscopic vs. open: n = 4 (4.6%) vs. n = 1 (3.6%); p= 1.00). We also found no significant difference in postoperative morbidity for total gastrectomy (laparoscopic vs. open: n = 2 (4.0%) vs. n = 1 (4.0%); p= 1.00). No deaths occurred in any group. The entire cohort analysis revealed no statistically significant differences in overall- or recurrence-free survival between the laparoscopic and open groups. For overall survival, there were no significant differences between open and laparoscopic groups for clinical stage II or III (p= 0.29 and 0.27, respectively), and for pathological stage II or III (p= 0.88 and 0.86, respectively). For recurrence-free survival, there were no significant differences between open and laparoscopic groups for clinical stage II or III (p= 0.63 and 0.60, respectively), and for pathological stage II or III (p = 0.98 and 0.72, respectively). Conclusions: Laparscopic gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer compared favorably with open gastrectomy regarding short- and long-term outcomes. Clinical trial information: 160907.