Surgical outcomes of laparoscopic right colectomy with complete mesocolic excision

Background and Objectives: Literature demonstrates that colorectal cancer is nowadays one of the most common malignancies. Laparoscopy and robotic surgery are progressively gaining popularity in the treatment of colo-rectal tumors. Complete mesocolic excision and central vascular ligation have been widely adopted with encouraging results in terms of an improvement of overall sur-vival, but some studies in the literature seem to demon-strate a higher morbidity rate. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study from 01/ 01/2010 to 30/04/2019 on a series of 250 patients, 155 males (62%) and 95 females (38%) who underwent right colectomy with minimally invasive approach, complete mesocolic excision, central vascular ligation, and intracor-poreal anastomosis. Results: No perioperative mortality occurred. Postoperative morbidity rate was 6%, including 10 cases of anasto-motic leak (5%). Conversion rate was 2.5%. Mean hospital stay was 6 days (range, 4 –25 days). Mean operative time was 70 minutes (range, 50 –130 minutes). No cases of duodenal or pancreatic damages, no chronic pain or di-arrhea, and no severe alteration of bowel function were recorded. We observed only 3 cases of transient delayed gastric emptying. Conclusions: Laparoscopic right colectomy with complete mesocolic excision, central vascular ligation and intracorporeal anastomosis leads to encouraging oncolog-ical mid-and long-term outcomes with low complications rates.