Single-incision laparoscopic right colectomy compared with conventional laparoscopy for malignancy: assessment of perioperative and short-term oncologic outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic colectomy for malignancy currently is the standard operative technique together with open colectomy. Single-incision laparoscopic surgery (SIL) is a recent advance in minimally invasive surgical techniques. This study aimed to compare SIL right colectomy with conventional laparoscopy (CL) used to treat patients with colon cancer.

METHODS: This study was a retrospective analysis of data from the authors' prospectively collected colorectal surgery database. Between August 2009 and November 2010, 159 patients who underwent primary laparoscopic right colectomy at the Samsung Medical Center were recruited to participate in this study. Of these, 66 patients underwent SIL colectomy.

RESULTS: The SIL and CL right colectomy groups did not differ significantly in terms of general characteristics including age, sex, body mass index (BMI), American society of anesthesiology (ASA) score, previous abdominal operation, and diagnosis. The two groups also did not differ significantly in terms of perioperative complications (9.1 vs. 15.1 %, p = 0.335). Oncologic resection was similar in the two groups. The mean number of harvested lymph nodes was 24 for SIL and 27 for CL right colectomy (p = 0.068). Tumor size, disease stage, adjuvant chemotherapy, and proximal and distal resection margins did not differ significantly between the two groups. The mean follow-up period was 24.5 for the SIL group and 26.4 months for the CL group (p = 0.098), with six recurrences in the SIL group (9.1 %) and three recurrences in the CL group (3.2 %) (p = 0.120). One death occurred in the CL group. Disease-free survival at 24 months did not differ significantly between the two groups (89.7 vs. 96.3 %, p = 0.120).

CONCLUSION: The findings show that SIL right colectomy for colon cancer is safe and can provide resection and oncologic outcomes equal to those of conventional laparoscopic right colectomy.