Objective To assess safety and feasibility of laparoscopic gastrectomy in the elderly with gastric cancer. Methods From January 2010 to September 2014, 146 elderly (age ≥65 years old) patients with gastric cancer underwent radical operations in the Department of General Surgery, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences and Guangdong General Hospital were collected, then were divided into a laparoscopy-assisted radical gastrectomy (LAG group, n=40) and an open radical gastrectomy (OG group, n=106) according to the operative mode. The differences of intraoperative and postoperative situation, and the postoperative complications were analyzed between the LAG group and the OG group. Results ① The age, gender, body mass index, albumin, ASA grade, tumor location, differentiation degree, TNM stage, radical gastrectomy, and digestive tract anastomosis had no significant differences between the LAG group and the OG group (P>0.05). ② None of the patients died during the operative period and there was no significant difference in the mean number of retrieved lymph nodes between these two groups (P>0.05). In the aspects of the intraoperative blood loss, the first flatus time or the first feeding time, and the postoperative hospitalization stay in the LAG group were significantly less than those in the OG group (P<0.05). For the operative time, the OG group showed a distinctive advantage with a significantdifference than the LAG group (P<0.05). ③ The rate of postoperative complication in the LAG group and OG group was 10.0% (4/40) and 15.1% (16/106) respectively, and the difference was not significant (χ2=0.64, P=0.591), the grade of the Clavien-Dindo complications had no significant difference (χ2=0.63, P=0.592). ④ None of the patients died following operation in the LAG group and one case died in the OG group because of the respiratory and circulatory failure caused by the pulmonary embolism. Conclusion Preliminary results of limited cases in this study show that LAG in the elderly patients with gastric cancer could reduce intraoperative blood loss, shorten the first flatus time or the first feeding time, and postoperative hospitalization stay, could obtain same radical effect without increasing incidence of postoperative complications as compared with OG, so it is safety and feasible.