[Laparoscopic colorectal surgery is no longer an ugly duckling]

Laparoscopic surgery for colorectal cancer in Sweden has previously been performed infrequently but is presently increasing, and in 2014 more than one fourth of all patients with colorectal cancer underwent laparoscopic resection. Regional differences are decreasing but substantial variation persists with regard to individual hospitals and the use of laparoscopy. All Swedish patients undergoing resection for cancer in the ascending and sigmoid colon between 2012-2014 (n=8269; laparoscopic resection 17%) were assessed with regard to patient demography and short-term outcome. The present investigation demonstrated that open surgery was more often performed in patients with locally advanced cancer or with metastatic disease and that laparoscopically operated patients were slightly younger and had less comorbidity. Short term surgical outcome was better in patients who underwent laparoscopy, a difference which may be attributed to a certain patient selection demonstrated in the present investigation. The number of retrieved lymph nodes was comparable and hospital stay was two days shorter in patients with laparoscopic resection.