Feasibility and Outcomes of Multivisceral Resection in Locally Advanced Colorectal Cancer: Experience of a Tertiary Cancer Center in North-East India

PURPOSE: Locally advanced colorectal cancer may require an en bloc resection of surrounding organs or structures to achieve complete tumor removal. This decision must weigh the risk of complications of multivisceral resection against the potential survival benefit. The purpose of this study is to review a single-center experience of feasibility of en bloc multivisceral resections for locally advanced colorectal carcinoma and to examine the effect of surgical experience on immediate outcome and rate of R0 resections. METHODS: This is a study of 27 patients who underwent multivisceral resection for locally advanced colorectal carcinoma which was performed at our institute from January 2016 to December 2019. Among the 27 patients aged between 21 and 76 years (mean age, 48.67±7.3 years), 13 were males and 14 were females. Overall 18 patients had primary colon carcinoma and 9 had primary rectal carcinoma. All rectal cancer patients received neoadjuvant chemoradiation. All patients underwent surgery with curative intent. All patients underwent open surgery of which 66.7% underwent colectomy, 14.8% underwent anterior resection, 11.1% underwent Miles procedure, and 7.4% underwent pelvic exenteration. RESULTS: The mean operative time was 268.14±72.2 minutes and the median amount of blood units transfused was 2.07 units. The mean hospital stay was 13.67±3.4 days. Histologically, 44.4% of patients had well-differentiated adenocarcinoma and 55.6% had moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma. The final histopathological examinatio n revealed malignant infiltration of the adjacent organs in 19/27 patients (70.4%). Pathological complete response was seen in 2 patients. R0 resection rate achieved was 96.3%. Lymph node metastasis was seen in 66.7% of patients with colon cancer and 11.1% with rectal cancer with overall mean number of harvested lymph nodes being 12.44±3.01. Postoperative complications were identified in 7 patients (25.9%), while mortality was seen in 2 (7.4%). CONCLUSION: Multivisceral resection for advanced colorectal cancer invading into the adjacent organ may be performed with acceptable morbidity and mortality.