Procedural difficulty differences according to tumor location do not compromise the clinical outcome of laparoscopic complete mesocolic excision for colon cancer: a retrospective analysis

Laparoscopic colectomy procedures and their corresponding difficulty levels may vary depending on the tumor location within the colon, and a laparoscopic complete mesocolic excision (CME) with central vascular ligation (CVL) would require more proficiency than a conventional laparoscopic colectomy. We aimed to report our laparoscopic CME with CVL data and to investigate the clinical outcome differences of laparoscopic CME with CVL by various tumor sub-site locations. Prospectively collected clinical data of consecutive patients who received laparoscopic colectomy for primary colon cancer between April 1995 and December 2010 from single surgeon were retrospectively reviewed. All of the included surgery was performed on the basis of CME with CVL principle with no-touch isolation technique. Data were analyzed and compared among three groups; patients who received right or extended right hemicolectomy (group A, n = 142), transverse colectomy or left or extended left hemicolectomy (group B, n = 59), and sigmoidectomy or anterior resection (group C, n = 210). Female patients were more common in group A (53.5% vs. 37.3% vs. 39.5%, p = 0.020). Other baseline characteristics were comparable. Operative time was shorter in group C than the other groups (309.0 ± 74.7 vs. 324.3 ± 89.1 vs. 280.1 ± 93.1 min, p = 0.000). There was no significant difference among groups in perioperative complication and patient recovery. Five-year overall survival, disease-free survival and local recurrence rate showed no difference for a median follow up period of 73 (1–120) months. In conclusion, laparoscopic tumor-specific CME and CVL for colon cancer can be performed with comparable short- and long-term outcomes regardless of tumor sub-site location except for the operative time.