Study: Laparoscopic Surgery for Colon Cancer Produces Better Results

Spanish researchers have concluded on the basis of a five-year study of more than 200 patients that laparoscopic surgery for colon cancer is preferable for a variety of reasons to conventional colon cancer surgery.

The researchers, reporting in The Lancet, said patients who had a laparoscopy-assisted colectomy (LAC), which uses a few small incisions and a camera-guided scalpel instead of the standard long incision, had shorter hospital stays, fewer complications, recovered faster and had a higher survival rate.

They reported that LAC patients averaged five days in the hospital compared to eight days for open colectomy patients. Twelve of the LAC patients had post-surgical complications compared to 31 of the open colectomy patients. Colon cancer recurred in 17 percent of the LAC patients compared to 27 percent of open colectomy patients.The death rate was 19 percent in the LAC group compared to 27 percent of open colectomy patients.

"LAC is more effective than open colectomy for treatment of colon cancer in terms of morbidity, hospital stay, tumour recurrence, and cancer-related survival," the researchers at the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona concluded..

They said that "if these results are confirmed by ongoing multi-center trials, laparoscopy-assisted colectomy for treatment could become the standard approach in patients with colon cancer."," surgeons at the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona write in the report.

In the U.S., the National Cancer Institute sponsoring a multi-center trial with results expected later this year.

Other Sources: The Lancet