title: Comparison and short-term outcomes between hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery and conventional laparoscopic surgery for anterior resections of left-sided colon cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery has been introduced as an alternative to conventional laparoscopic surgery. This study compared the efficacies and short-term clinical outcomes between hand-assisted laparoscopic anterior resection (HAL-AR) and conventional laparoscopic anterior resection (CL-AR) for treating left-sided colon cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively analyzed 248 patients who underwent anterior resection for colon cancer (118 HAL-AR and 128 CL-AR) between May 2000 and December 2006. The collected data included the perioperative and short-term oncologic outcomes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no significant differences between the HAL-AR and CL-AR groups, except for the operation time and the size of the primary tumor. The operation time of the HAL-AR group was significantly shorter than that of the CL-AR group (p = 0.004), and the size of the primary tumor in the HAL-AR group was significantly larger than that of the CL-AR group (p = 0.019). The operating time of the HAL-AR group reached an earlier mean plateau than did that of the CL-AR group. Before and after reaching the plateau, there were no differences in the perioperative results between the two groups. The operating time for the HAL-AR group was significantly shorter than that of the CL-AR group after reaching a plateau (p = 0.012). The short-term outcomes for both groups were similar in terms of survival and recurrence (p = 0.996 and p = 0.476, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hand-assisted laparoscopic anterior resection has a shorter operative time than does CL-AR and is more successful than CL-AR for resecting larger tumors, while both procedures result in similar short-term oncologic outcomes. Hand-assisted laparoscopic anterior resection is thought be a comparable operative technique for anterior resection of left-sided colon cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
authors.forename: Hae Ran
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Yun
authors.forename: Yong Kwon
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Yong Beom
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Hee Cheol
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Seong Hyeon
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Yun
authors.forename: Woo Yong
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Ho-Kyung
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Chun
mesh_terms: D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D003710:Demography; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019990:Perioperative Care; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome