Hand-Assisted Laparoscopic Surgery (HALS) as an Alternative to Unplanned Laparoscopic Conversion to Open Surgery (LCOS) in Colectomies for Acute Diverticulitis.

Background: In difficult colorectal cases, surgeons may opt for a hand-assisted laparoscopic (HALS) colectomy or attempt a laparoscopic surgery that may require an unplanned conversion to open (LCOS). We aimed to compare the clinical outcomes of these 2 types of surgeries.

Methods: Colectomies for acute diverticulitis with a HALS or LCOS surgery were selected from the American College of Surgeons (ACS) National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) 2022 Targeted Colectomy Database. After confirming a difference in propensity scores between the cohorts, they were matched using propensity score matching (PSM) based on preoperative factors. RStudio was utilized for filtering and performing the PSM, while Minitab was used for statistical analysis.

Results: We identified 804 HALS colectomies and 284 LCOS colectomies. After PSM, both cohorts contained 284 patients. Absolute standardized mean errors for all matched factors were less than 0.1, confirming well-balanced cohorts. Following PSM, preoperative and perioperative factors were similar between both colectomy groups. Postoperatively, HALS surgeries had a shorter average length of stay (7.67 ± 0.38 vs 10.57 ± 0.41, P < 0.001) as well as lower rates of ileus (13.73% vs 22.54%, P = 0.007) and superficial surgical site infection (2.11% vs 5.28%, P = 0.045).

Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first national database study comparing HALS and LCOS colectomies. After accounting for confounding variables, our PSM analysis showed the benefits of HALS colectomies for acute diverticulitis. Future studies may use single-center data containing risk adjustment profiles to create an even more uniform comparison.