An analysis of long-term survival after laparoscopic radical resection for rectal cancer

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the efficacy of laparoscopic radical resection for rectal cancer by collecting and analyzing long-term outcomes of patients and to investigate prognostic factors of overall survival and disease free survival. Methods The clinicopathological data of 235 patients who underwent laparoscopic radical resection for rectal cancer from Jan 2007 to Dec 2010 were retrospectively analyzed. COX proportional hazards regression model was used to determine the risk factors for overall survival and disease free survival. Results A total of 235 patients were included in this analysis. Local recurrence rate were 8.1% at 3 years and 9.8% at 5 years. Overall and disease free survival were 85.2% and 75.1% at 3 years, 77.1% and 69.6% at 5 years, respectively. Factors found to significantly and independently predict a poor overall and disease free survival were laparoscopic Hartmann, postoperative complications, stage Ⅲ tumor and ulcerative type tumor. Neural invasion was also an adverse prognostic factor of overall survival. Conclusions Laparoscopic Hartmann, postoperative complications, stage Ⅲ tumor and ulcerative type tumor were independently associated with overall and disease free survival. In addition to this, neural invasion was also an adverse prognostic factor of overall survival. Key words: Rectal neoplasms; Survival analysis; Laparoscopy; Risk factors