A multicenter study on laparoscopic surgery for colorectal cancer in Japan.
BACKGROUND
Laparoscopic colectomy for malignant disease technically is feasible but not widely accepted because there are no large-series studies or data on long-term outcomes. A retrospective, multicenter study investigating a large series of patients was conducted in Japan to evaluate preliminary long-term results of laparoscopic surgery for colorectal cancer.


METHODS
The study group comprised 2,036 patients who underwent laparoscopic colorectal resection April 1993 to August 2002 in 12 participating surgical units (Japanese Laparoscopic Surgery Study Group).


RESULTS
Of the 1,495 patients with colon cancer, 781 (59%) had International Union Against Cancer (UICC) stage I, 248 (19%) had stage II, and 284 (22%) had stage III disease. Cancer recurred for 61 (4.1%) of 1,367 curatively treated patients (median follow-up period, 32 months; range, 6-125 months). The 5-year survival rate was 96.7% for stage I, 94.8% for stage II, and 79.6% for stage III disease. Of the 541 patients with rectal cancer, 220 (56%) had stage I, 62 had (16%) stage II, and 108 (28%) had stage III disease. Cancer recurred for 30 (5.6%) of 476 curatively treated patients (median follow-up period, 25 months; range 6-102 months). The 5-year survival rate was 95.2% for stage I, 85.2% for stage II, and 80.8% for stage III disease.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings indicate that laparoscopic surgery for colorectal cancer yields an oncological outcome as good as that reported for conventional open surgery in the Japanese Registry for all disease stages.
Kitano
S
S
Department of Surgery I, Oita University Faculty of Medicine, 1-1 Idaigaoka, Yufu, Oita, 879-5593, Japan.
Kitajima
M
M
Konishi
F
F
Kondo
H
H
Satomi
S
S
Shimizu
N
N
D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007564:Japan; D010535:Laparoscopy; D008297:Male; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000453:epidemiology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome