[Quality assurance aspects of laparoscopic colorectal tumor surgery]

It is still controversial whether a laparoscopic resection should be accomplished to treat colorectal cancer for cure. Some surgeons strongly believe that the new approach causes less pain, adhesions and abdominal hernias and allows faster oral intake. However, some surgeons hesitate to use this technique because they fear that it may compromise the long term results. It was evaluated whether the current quality of treatment is improved by the laparoscopic approach. Therefore, the short- and long-term benefits of laparoscopic and conventional surgery were compared. Following a systematic analysis of available scientific data it can be concluded that there are some clinically relevant short-term benefits for patients. Reliable long-term results from controlled trials are not available yet. There are not any published data which allow to conclude that the prognosis may be worsened using the laparoscopic technique. Thus, the surgeon should consider to learn this technique properly and apply it in selected cases.