Laparoscopic Colon Cancer Surgery: Quicker Recovery

Lyle Henry, M.D., General and Vascular Surgeon, Chief of Surgery and co-founder of Columbia St. Mary’s Milwaukee Institute of Minimally Invasive Surgery

Posted: May 1, 2007

Colorectal cancer is up to 90 percent curable when it’s diagnosed in its early stages, which makes regular screenings so important. Screenings can find the presence of polyps or detect cancer in its earliest, most curable stages.

There is more good news in the fight against colon cancer. Laparoscopic surgery has become a viable alternative to conventional open surgery. Laparoscopic surgery is performed through small incisions using specially designed surgical instruments and a scope, which is a thin tube with a tiny video camera attached. This type of surgery has been widely used for over 15 years to successfully treat non-cancerous abdominal diseases, such as gall bladder disease.

Laparoscopic surgery was considered experimental for colon cancer surgery largely because only time would give us the long-term data on whether the technique to remove the tumors were as effective as the conventional open procedure.

We have been doing laparoscopic surgery for colon resection or to remove cancerous tumors from the colon since the early 1990s and have tracked and published our results since 1992 to keep patients informed of this important surgical development. So we are excited by the results of a recent multi-center, national study that was conducted to evaluate the success rate of this type of surgery. It determined what we had seen in our patients – that the laparoscopic surgery has the same cure rate as traditional open surgery.

With this minimally invasive surgery, there’s a lot to gain without losing the desired results. For laparoscopic surgery patients, post-operative discomfort is less and therefore pain medication is reduced, hospital stays are shorter, recovery is quicker, bowel function resumes quicker and patients get back to normal activities quicker compared with patients who have open surgery.

Who is a good candidate for minimally invasive surgery?
If you are diagnosed with a colon tumor, and it is not an obstruction or the colon is not perforated, you have time to explore your options and get a second opinion, if you wish.

When speaking with your doctor or surgeon, ask some key questions, such as what is the size and location of the tumor. Ask about other tests, such as a scan or ultrasound. Ask if pre- or post-operative treatment will be necessary. Research other options that may be available to you, either surgical or otherwise.

Be a better consumer of health care. Know your choices and get as much information as you need to make a good decision. Being informed will help you be comfortable with your doctor or surgeon.

At the Milwaukee Institute of Minimally Invasive Surgery, when we evaluate a patient for surgery or treatment, we consider what is the best for the individual patient. First, the patient’s safety and well-being are paramount. We want the best results, and we want to achieve that in the most straightforward way possible.

Colon resection for cancer is a surgery that removes the tumor and lymph nodes and, with the laparoscopic minimally invasive procedure, we can achieve anatomically the same goal. With those who need colon resections, we can plan to perform the laparoscopic procedure on 95% or more of our patients. When doing a colon resection, we ask ourselves if we can do this safely and properly through the scope and achieve the desired result. We never compromise a patient’s safety for the sake of doing a laparoscopic surgery.

There are patients who are not preferred candidates for this type of surgery. By the nature of the surgical technique, the laparoscopic procedure takes longer. So we evaluate the patient’s capacity to be in surgery for the time it takes to perform it.

If a tumor is sizable, we may not be able to remove it with the minimally invasive procedure. Also it depends on the patient’s surgical history; for example, there might be considerable scar tissue, making open surgery the wisest option.

The importance of colon cancer screening
Regular colon cancer screenings are your first line of defense. How often you should be screened depends on your medical history. Talk with your doctor about the type and frequency of screenings that are right for you. Colon cancer and deaths from this disease are highly preventable if detected in an early stage through screenings.

Lyle Henry, M.D.
Milwaukee Institute of Minimally Invasive Surgery
Columbia St. Mary’s
414-326-1745

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