Comparison of clinical efficacy and complications between laparoscopic versus open surgery for low rectal cancer

AIM: To compare the surgical outcomes of laparoscopic surgery for lower rectal cancer with open surgery. METHODS: The multiple databases including PubMed, Springer, EMBASE, EMBASE, OVID were adopted to search for the relevant studies, and full-text articles involving the comparison of unilateral and bilateral PVP surgery were reviewed. Review Manager 5.0 was adopted to estimate the effects of the results among the selected articles. Forest plots, sensitivity analysis and bias analysis for the articles included were also conducted. RESULTS: Finally, 1186 patients were included in the 10 studies, which eventually satisfied the eligibility criteria, and laparoscopic and open surgery group were 646 and 540, respectively. The meta-analysis suggested that there was no significant difference of the operation time between laparoscopic and open surgery group, while the time to solid intake, hospital stay time, blood loss and complication rate of laparoscopic group are much less than those of open surgery. CONCLUSION: Although both these two punctures provide similar operation time, we encourage the use of the laparoscopic surgery as the preferred surgical technique for treatment of lower rectal cancer due to less time to solid intake, hospital stay time, blood loss and lower complication rate.