Minimally Invasive Colon Surgery Offers Small Benefits

A clinical trial comparing minimally invasive surgery with standard surgery for colon cancer has found only slightly better quality-of-life outcomes for patients who had the minimally invasive procedure. The trial was conducted by researchers from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Boston, MA, USA) and the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN, USA), with the results published in the January 16, 2002, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Society.

The controlled, multicenter trial followed 428 colon cancer patients randomly assigned to either a standard colectomy or a laparoscopic-assisted colectomy. Quality-of-life outcome scores were derived from survey data completed prior to surgery and two days, two weeks, and two months following surgery. The scores showed that patients who had the laparoscopic-assisted colectomy were able to leave the hospital about one day earlier and required less pain medication while hospitalized than patients who had standard surgery. On the other hand, following surgery and two months later, both groups showed the same levels of pain and quality of life.

"The results were certainly a surprise, as it was generally assumed that quality of life after laparoscopic surgery would be substantially better,” said Jane C. Weeks, M.D., lead author and the director of Dana-Farber's Center for Outcomes and Policy Research. She believes the trial should be viewed as experimental until long-term results show whether laparoscopic surgery is as effective as the standard operation in controlling the cancer.




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