Minimal invasive approach for beyond total mesorectal excision/extended resections in rectal cancer

By: Dr. Praveen Kammar
Authors: Naveena A. N. Kumar, Avanish Saklani
Category: Cytorerductive Surgeries and HIPEC
Start: July 23, 2018
Source: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f9dc/085ddd7fca1ed2b383bd0c9691acb7fe1e3d.pdf
DOI: 10.20517/2574-1225.2018.26

ABSTRACT

Minimal invasive surgery (MIS) is an accepted modality of treatment for rectal cancer. The indications for MIS have gradually been extended to locally advanced and locally recurrent rectal cancer as a result of technological advances in instrumentation, advances in surgical techniques, increased surgeon experience, and high volume center.

However, the safety and feasibility of laparoscopic surgery and robotic surgery in beyond total mesorectal excision (b-TME) and extended TME (e-TME) are not well established. This review summarizes the current evidence for MIS approach for b-TME/extended resections in rectal cancer. A systematic search was carried out in PubMed.

Studies available in English related to MIS approach in b-TME/e-TME in rectal cancers were identified and evaluated. This review concludes MIS is feasible with good perioperative outcomes in b-TME/e-TME in carefully selected patients. Laparoscopic surgery has considerable learning curve and should be performed by experienced surgical teams.

Robotic surgery is feasible and beneficial in complex resection in pelvis. However, evidence for long-term oncological outcomes of MIS in b-TME/e-TME is low and needs to be studied further by randomized controlled trial once enough numbers are possible in institutes with high volume rate.