Short-term outcome of laparoscopic surgery for rectal cancer

Although laparoscopic surgery for colorectal cancer improves post operative recovery, its use for curative treatment especially for rectal cancer is still controversial. The present study is an attempt to analyze the results of the safety and feasibility of laparoscopic surgery including short-term results for rectal cancer.

This study accumulated 109 patients with rectal cancer retrospectively who underwent laparoscopic surgery. Patients with rectosigmoid colon cancer were excluded from this study. Patients' data, perioperative data including morbidity and mortality, surgical data were analyzed, and the 3-year disease-free survival data were calculated by Kaplan-Meier method, according to the location of the tumor and the UICC stage.

There were 71 males and 38 females who underwent laparoscopic surgery for rectal cancer. Mean age of them was 63.7+/-12.5 years. The mean BMI was 22.6+/-2.8 kg/m(2). The operative procedure was low anterior resection (LAR) in 80 cases, abdominoperineal resection (APR) in 14 cases, intersphincteric resection (ISR) in 14 cases, and Hartmann's procedure in 1 case. The operation time was 237.0+/-71.6 minutes. Blood loss was 165.0+/-163.8. The postoperative morbidity was 22.9%. The postoperative mortality within 30 days after surgery was not experienced. The 3-year disease-free survival rate was 94.2% after curative surgery. According to the UICC stage, the 3-year disease survival rate was 100% in stage 0/I, 89.1% in stage II, and 84.6% in stage III.

Laparoscopic surgery for rectal cancer was safe and feasible including postoperative morbidity, mortality and postoperative short-term results. Further study is necessary to clarify the quality of laparoscopic surgery including the postoperative long-term results.