Single-incision Laparoscopic Surgery Versus Conventional Laparoscopy for Colorectal Cancer: A Comparison of Oncologic Outcomes

Purpose. To compare the perioperative and oncologic outcomes between conventional laparoscopy (CL) and single-incision laparoscopic surgery (SILS) for colorectal malignancy. Methods. The medical records of patients who underwent CL and SILS for the treatment of colorectal malignancy between January 2007 and January 2012 were reviewed. The inclusion criteria were stages 1-3 colorectal adenocarcinoma. The demographics, perioperative data, and oncologic outcomes were retrospectively evaluated. Results. We recruited 161 patients to participate. Eighty-eight patients underwent SILS and 73 underwent CL initially. The two groups did not differ significantly in terms of age, sex, body mass index (BMI), and the American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA) score. The intraoperative and perioperative outcomes were similar, except with regard to the operation time and conversion. Fourteen patients in the SILS group were converted to additional ports, but no conversion to laparotomy occurred in this group. One patient in the CL group was converted to laparotomy. Regarding the oncologic outcomes, the number of harvested lymph nodes in the SILS group was significantly more than that in the CL group (p=0.033). Conclusions. SILS for colorectal malignancy provided a nearly equivalent efficacy for the operative and oncologic outcomes in comparison to CL. No significant disadvantages such as complications and conversion to laparotomy were found after performing SILS. Thus, SILS may be considered as an alternative to CL.