Effect of laparoscopic complete mesocolic excision combined with immunotherapy and its impact on immune function and tumor markers in elderly patients with colon cancer

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of laparoscopic complete mesocolic excision combined with immunotherapy and its impact on immune function and tumor markers in elderly patients with colon cancer. METHODS: This is a clinical comparative study. Eighty elderly patients with colon cancer hospitalized in the No.2 Hospital of Baoding from May 2020 to May 2022 were randomly divided into two groups, with 40 cases in each group. Patients in the study group received laparoscopic complete mesocolic resection combined with ubenimex orally. While patients in the control group received routine open surgery. The surgical indexes, surgical complications, and the changes of immune molecules and tumor markers before and after treatment were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: The amount of intraoperative bleeding, retention time of drainage tube and postoperative length of stay in the hospital in the study group were significantly better than those in the control group (p=0.000). The incision length of the study group was significantly shorter than that of the control group, the number of lymph nodes removed during the operation was significantly higher than that of the control group, and the incidence of surgical complications was significantly lower than that of the control group (p<0.05). After treatment, the levels of immune molecules in the study group were remarkably higher than those in the control group (p<0.05), while the levels of tumor markers were much lower than those in the latter group (p=0.000). CONCLUSION: Laparoscopic complete mesocolic excision combined with immunotherapy exhibits a superior therapeutic effect to traditional open surgery in elderly patients with colon cancer, and is worthy of clinical promotion.