Outcomes of conversion of laparoscopic colorectal surgery to open surgery

There is limited data regarding the outcomes of patients who undergo conversion to open surgery during a laparoscopic operation in colorectal resection. We sought to identify the outcomes of such patients.

The NIS (National Inpatient Sample) database was used to identify patients who had conversion from laparoscopic to open colorectal surgery during the 2009 to 2012 period. Multivariate regression analysis was performed to identify risk-adjusted outcomes of conversion to open surgery.

We sampled 776 007 patients who underwent colorectal resection. 337 732 (43.5%) of the patients had laparoscopic resection. Of these, 48 265 procedures (14.3%) were converted to open surgery. The mortality of converted patients was increased, when compared with successfully completed laparoscopic operations, but was still lower than that of open procedures (0.6% vs. 1.4% vs. 3.9%, respectively; adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 1.61 and 0.58, respectively; P < .01). The most common laparoscopic colorectal procedure was right colectomy (41.2%). The lowest rate of conversion is seen with right colectomy while proctectomy had the highest rate of conversion (31.2% vs. 12.9%, AOR, 2.81, P < .01). Postsurgical complications including intra-abdominal abscess (AOR, 2.64), prolonged ileus (AOR, 1.50), and wound infection (AOR, 2.38) were higher in procedures requiring conversion (P < .01).

Conversion of laparoscopic to open colorectal resection occurs in 14.3% of cases. Compared with patients who had laparoscopic operations, patients who had conversion to open surgery had a higher mortality, higher overall morbidity, longer length of hospitalization, and increased hospital charges. The lowest conversion rate was in right colectomy and the highest was in proctectomy procedures. Wound infection in converted procedures is higher than in laparoscopic and open procedures.