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Study Vindicates Minimally Invasive Surgery
for Colon Cancer
After more than a decade, patients will once again have full access to a surgical procedure for colon cancer that uses minimally invasive techniques. Restricted for years because it was thought to reduce potential for cancer cure, the procedure — known as laparoscopic colectomy — recently proved to be just as safe as the standard surgery in a major clinical study.
Early ConcernsA colectomy is the surgical removal of all or part of the colon. For years, the only way to perform this procedure was through an abdominal incision up to a foot long. That changed in the early 1990s, when doctors began doing the same job laparoscopically — using special instruments to view and remove the colon through a series of much smaller openings.
While this approach was less traumatic for patients, early reports suggested it led to an increased recurrence of tumors in the surgical wounds. Widespread use of laparoscopic colectomy was halted—and a controlled study of the procedure got underway.
Results Are InThe results of the study appeared this spring in the New England Journal of Medicine. Based on more than 800 surgeries, researchers found that cancer recurrence and survival rates are virtually identical for traditional and laparoscopic procedures. Best of all, the trial showed patients treated laparoscopically recover faster, spending a median of five days in the hospital as opposed to six, and they require fewer days of pain medication.
David Ota, MD, Medical College of Wisconsin surgical oncologist and chief of Surgical Oncology at Froedtert & Medical College of Wisconsin, was a member of the team that designed and conducted the study. The bottom line, he says, is that laparoscopic colectomy does not lead to higher rates of tumor recurrence. “It does not compromise our ability to control and cure cancer and it results in faster recovery with less pain,” says Dr. Ota. “The most important point is that it is safe.”
Source: Froedtert Today Date: November 2004 |