Laparoscopic Colectomy: the Absolute Need for a Standard Operative Technique

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study is to review our experience performing laparoscopic colon surgery and to present the operative technique as used and standardized by us. METHODS: From April 1992 to December 1996, 158 consecutive patients underwent laparoscopic colon surgery. There were 92 females and 66 males, whose average age was 66.7 years (range 31 - 92); 134 patients (84.9%) were operated on for carcinoma, and the remaining 24 (14.1%) for benign disease. RESULTS: There were 117 procedures completed laparoscopically out of 158 patients (74%); 103 colon resections (18 for benign disease and 95 for malignant disease), 7 Hartmann procedures, 3 for reversal of Hartmann's procedures, 1 rectopexy, and 3 ileotrasversostomies. Conversions were required in 41 out of 158 cases (25.9%); 19 of these cases, however, were converted to a laparoscopic-facilitated procedure. The most common causes for conversion were the presence of bulky tumors and/or tumors that contaminated adjacent structures (16/158), adhesions due to previous operations (8/158) or patient obesity (5/158). There were 31 complications (19.6%), 9 of which required re-operation. There was only one recurrence (0.9%) that manifested 15 months after the procedure, at both trocar and drainage sites, and with peritoneal carcinomatosis. This occurred in a patient with rectal neoplasia who suffered a perforation of the rectum during dis-section, with bowel spillage. The average number of lymph nodes harvested in resected specimens was 12.8 (range 1-41), whereas the mean distance of the tumor from the proximal margin of resection was 11.5 cm (range 5-35), and from the distal margin 7.5 cm (range 1-25). The average operative time was 165 minutes (range 40-360), and the mean hospital stay was 9.2 days (range 6-40). There were three mortalities out of 158 patients (1.9%). CONCLUSIONS: Laparoscopic colon resection for malignant lesions, performed with the highest respect for oncologic principles, has demonstrated that it is difficult to develop a barrier to wall and intraluminal recurrence. Recurrence, in our opinion, is caused by improper surgical technique. Therefore, neoplastic colon laparoscopic surgery must be the prerogative of selected and specialized centers.