Comparison of the long-term outcomes of patients who underwent laparoscopic versus open surgery for rectal cancer.

PURPOSE Survival data of patients who underwent laparoscopic surgery compared with those who underwent open surgery for rectal cancer are limited. We compared long-term outcomes of laparoscopic surgery with those of open surgery in patients with rectal cancer. METHODS Between April 2007 and December 2013, a series of 879 patients with rectal cancer underwent surgery with curative intent (287 patients via laparoscopic surgery and 592 patients via open surgery). Age, gender, body mass index (BMI), American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score, clinical stage and type of resection were matched by propensity scoring, and 382 patients (191 patients by laparoscopic surgery and 191 patients by open surgery) were selected for analysis. Intraoperative factors, postoperative data, long-term survival were evaluated. RESULTS There was no significant difference in preoperative data between the two patient groups. Blood loss was significantly lower in the laparoscopy group than in the open group, while operation time was significantly longer in the laparoscopy group than the open group. There were no significant differences in overall survival or recurrence-free survival. The patterns of recurrence were not different between the two groups. CONCLUSION Laparoscopic surgery for patients with rectal cancer produces the same long-term results compared with open surgery in terms of survival and recurrence.