Does Laparoscopic Colectomy Work for Colon Cancer?

Abstract

Background: Colon cancer is the most common gastrointestinal malignancy worldwide and accounts for more than half of all gastrointestinal tumors, with over 1 million new cases and 500 000 deaths per year. Objectives: The purpose of our study was to compare the outcomes of laparoscopic surgery and open surgery for colon cancer surgery by evaluating the lymph nodes. It is crucial to remove an adequate number of lymph nodes, as a more extensive nodal removal has been associated with higher survival rates and fewer relapses. Methods: This prospective study was conducted on 120 patients (57 females and 63 males) with colon cancer, who were registered and analyzed in our unit from 2019 to 2021. Of these patients, 78 underwent open surgery and 42 underwent laparoscopic surgery. A checklist comprising 8 variables including postoperative pain, length of hospital stay, site infection during the first 30 days, number of lymph nodes removed in pathology, hemoglobin drop, anastomotic leak, urinary tract injury, and time of operation was completed for all patients. SPSS version 21 software was used for data analysis, and a P-value less than 0.05 was considered significant. Results: The age of the patients was between 30 to 60 years. The variables of site infection during the first 30 days (P = 0.7), anastomotic leak complication (P = 0.5), urinary tract injury (P = 0.02), and number of lymph nodes removed (P = 0.13) were not statistically significant between the two groups of laparoscopic surgery and open surgery. However, the variables of duration of operation (P < 0.05), decrease in hemoglobin of postoperative patients compared to preoperative (P < 0.05), severe postoperative pain (P < 0.05), and number of days of hospital stay (P < 0.05) between the groups of laparoscopic surgery and open surgery were statistically significant. Conclusions: Our experience suggests that laparoscopic colectomy is a safe and feasible procedure with better short-term outcomes and comparable oncological efficacy to the open approach.