Current Evidence for Laparoscopic Surgery in Colorectal Cancers

Abstract

Abstract The article lays an emphasis on the laparoscopic surgical method used to treat colorectal cancer. It reviews the current status of the laparoscopic colorectal surgeries and recommendation of evidences for short- and long-term outcome. The early results were against laparoscopic approach. There was a need of properly designed study to validate or invalidate these findings. Seven large-scale trials compared laparoscopic and open colectomy for colon carcinoma and examined short-term and long-term outcomes. These trials included the Clinical Outcomes of Surgical Therapies (COST) trial funded by the National Cancer Institute in the United States, the Conventional versus Laparoscopic-Assisted Surgery in Colorectal Cancer (CLASICC) trial in the United Kingdom, the Colon Cancer Laparoscopic or Open Resection (COLOR), a multicenter European trial. For the validation of the argument that laparoscopy is safe, meta-analysis was performed. Certain conclusions of meta-analysis are also presented in this article. The individual merits and weaknesses of laparoscopic surgery as compared with open surgery as the primary treatment of colorectal cancer are being highlighted in this article.