[Treatment of colonic cancer with laser (Nd-YAG). Our initial experience]

Laser-therapy represents an acceptable alternative in the palliative treatment of colon cancer. We have treated 25 patients with this pathology, 10 with obstructive tumor, which impeded the insertion of the endoscope, and 15 non-obstructive tumors. Higher technical difficulties on the former, together with a worse clinical situation, due to the fact that the tumor was more invasive, produce a more discrete result and with a higher risk of complications (one patient had a perforation and other an obstructive stenosis after two months of treatment) in comparison with the group of patients with non-obstructive tumors. However the treatment improved their quality of life with the recovery of their intestinal function. Among patients with non-obstructive tumors of the colonic light, prolonged survival (mean 6.8 months) was reached by 73.3% of patients belonging to this group; disappearing after treatment even the endoscopic view of the tumor in 33.3% of the patients.