Colorectal cancer: is the surgeon a prognostic factor? A systematic review

To assess whether there is evidence that the surgeon is a prognostic factor in the treatment of colorectal cancer.

MEDLINE 1985-February 1999, and bibliographies of retrieved articles.

Publications which analysed the outcome of patients with colorectal cancer and in which one of the variables analysed was the surgeon.

Thirteen studies were identified which addressed the outcome measures: post-operative mortality, anastomotic leak rate, local recurrence rate, and long-term survival. For these outcomes, different surgeons achieve significantly different results, with experienced and specialist surgeons achieving significantly better results than other surgeons.

The current data strongly suggest that the surgeon is an important prognostic factor in the treatment of colorectal cancer.