Laparoscopic Colectomy for Colon Cancer with Retroperitoneal Abscess Treated with Initial Conservative Therapy: A Report of Three Cases with a Literature Review

Abstract

Background: Colon cancer rarely invades the retroperitoneum and surrounding organs, such as the iliopsoas muscle, resulting in retroperitoneal abscesses. We present three cases of colon cancer with retroperitoneal abscesses (CRA, treated using different initial conservative therapies (ICTs, followed by laparoscopic surgery. We also reviewed 18 cases of CRA reported in Japanese literature from 2000 to 2016. Case presentation: In Case 1 and 2, patients underwent abscess drainage as ICT. In Case 3, the patient diagnosed with cecum cancer underwent initial treatment with separation surgery, which isolated the right side of the colon from the left side and created a mucus fistula of the right-side colon to prevent stool from running through the lesion. In all cases, ICT combined with antibiotic therapy improved the general condition of the patients and reduced the volume of the abscess cavity, enabling a laparoscopic surgery to be performed. All cases underwent en bloc resection of the main tumor and invaded organ with adequate lymph node dissection. Rather than attempting complete resection of the entire abscess cavity, the debridement of the abscess cavity was performed. Although one patient complained of mild neuropathic pain of the left thigh after surgery, the postoperative clinical courses of the three patients were almost uneventful. The follow-up periods of Case 1, 2, and 3 were 24, 6, and 2 months respectively, and they have shown no signs of recurrence after surgery. Conclusion: Following a review of 18 CRA cases, ICT for CRA didn’t make any significant differences in postoperative complication and length of hospital stay compared with surgery alone. However, based on our cases, ICT before surgery clearly provided benefit to the patients and made the use of laparoscopic surgery possible. ICT can be a useful strategy for the treatment of CRA.