Comparison of the incidence of postoperative complications following laparoscopic and open colorectal cancer resection / 中华胃肠外科杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To compare the postoperative complications following laparoscopic and open colorectal cancer resection.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>From January 2000 to September 2011, 910 patients underwent laparoscopic surgery and 434 open surgery. The postoperative complications were compared between the two groups.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Forty-eight patients (5.3%, 48/910) in the laparoscopic group were converted to open operation, of whom 36 (75.0%, 36/48) were due to difficulty in procedure and exposure from obesity and narrow pelvis. The overall complication rate was 20.3% (185/910) in the laparoscopic group and 25.3%(110/434) in the open group (χ2=4.316, P<0.05). For patients with a diverting stoma, the anastomotic leak rate was 2.1% (3/145) and 2.2% (2/93) (χ2=0.002, P>0.05), anastomotic bleeding rate was 3.4% (5/145) and 4.3% (4/93) (χ2=0.113, P>0.05). For patients without a diverting stoma, the anastomotic leak rate was 3.1% (22/699) and 1.0% (3/301) (χ2=3.993, P<0.05), anastomotic bleeding rate was 1.6% (11/699) and 2.3% (7/301) (χ2=0.673, P>0.05), bowel obstruction rate was 3.4% (31/910) and 5.8% (25/434) (χ2=4.077, P<0.05), chyle leak rate was 5.8% (53/910) and 3.7% (16/434) (χ2=2.757, P>0.05), urinary retention rate was 1.5% (14/910) and 1.6% (7/434) (χ2=0.011, P>0.05), wound infection rate was 2.2% (20/910) and 4.6% (20/434) (χ2=5.913, P<0.05), pulmonary infection rate was 6.4% (58/910) and 10.6% (46/434) (χ2=7.349, P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The overall postoperative complication rate in laparoscopic surgery is significantly lower than that in open surgery.</p>