Minimally Invasive Colon Surgery for Colon Cancer: Long-Term Oncologic Results from a 10-Year Follow-Up Study

This study aimed to assess the outcomes of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) for colon cancer and analyze the impact of tumor localization on survival.

A retrospective analysis was conducted on 842 consecutive patients who underwent curative MIS (laparoscopic and robotic) for stage I to III colon adenocarcinoma between 2001 and 2024. The surgical technique adhered to oncological principles, ensuring adequate resection margins and proper lymph node dissection. Patient characteristics, operative data, perioperative outcomes, histopathologic findings, and oncological outcomes were analyzed.

The study included 842 patients (59.4% male, 40.6% female) with a median age of 60.3 years. Tumor localization was right colon in 29.5%, transverse colon in 6.5%, and left colon in 64% of cases. In our study, 814 cases (96.7%) were performed using laparoscopic surgery, while 28 cases (3.3%) were performed using robotic surgery. The mean operative time was 135 minutes, with a mean hospital stay of 6 days. Conversion to open surgery occurred in 3% of cases. The mean number of lymph nodes removed was 35 (range: 8 to 72). Pathologic examination revealed that 65% of cases were node-positive stage III. During a mean follow-up of 10 years, local recurrence (LR) was observed in 2.8% of patients, with no significant difference based on tumor localization. Distant metastases (DM) occurred in 12.7% of patients. The 10-year disease-free survival (DFS) rate for all patients was 75%, and the overall survival (OS) rate was 78.7%. The 10-year DFS rates for right colon, transverse colon, and left colon cancers were 74%, 71%, and 76%, respectively. Similarly, the OS rates for the same groups were 78.9%, 75%, and 79%, respectively. Statistical analysis revealed no significant differences in DFS ( P =0.851) or OS ( P =0.789) among the 3 tumor localization groups.

Our study demonstrated that MIS is a promising approach for achieving favorable long-term oncological outcomes in colon cancer patients. Consequently, MIS is established as the standard approach in colon cancer surgery. Although right colon tumors are often associated with poorer disease-free and overall survival rates, this study found no significant differences in DFS or OS among left, transverse, and right colon tumors.