Comparison of safety and rate of postoperative complications between laparoscopic and open radical resection for mid or low rectal cancer following neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy

Objective To investigate the safety and rate of postoperative complications between laparoscopic and open radical resection for mid or low rectal cancer following neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. Methods 112 patients with middle and low rectal cancer admitted to our department were randomly divided into observation group and control group, with 56 cases in each group. All patients were treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. The patients in the observation group were given laparoscopic surgery (LS), and those in the control group received traditional open surgery (OS). The tumor treatment conditions (the distal and proximal cut-off lengths of tumor resection specimens, the positive rate of circumferential and distal resection margins, the rate of anal preservation and the short-term complications after surgery) of the two groups were observed and compared. Results The rate of anal preservation and the distal cut-off length in the LS group were significantly increased as compared with those in the OS group (P<0.05). The overall incidence of postoperative complications in LS group and OS group was 5.35% (3/56) and 33.92% (19/56) respectively, with the difference being statistically significant (P<0.01). Conclusion Compared to the patients with advanced rectal cancer which had received neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy, LS is better than OS in the safety and effect. Key words: Laparoscopic surgery; Rectal cancer; Neoadjuvant chemoradiation