Purpose: The purpose of this meta-analysis was to evaluate differences between laparoscopic and open surgery and also the development of local and distant colorectal cancer (CRC) recurrences in treated patients.
Methods: 2,058 cases treated with laparoscopic surgery and 2,365 cases with open surgery from 20 included studies were analyzed, using the random-effects model. The mean difference and odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (95%CI) were calculated. An overall and a subgroup analysis was performed according to the type of cancer - colon or rectal, and we registered the operating time, number of dissected lymph nodes and need for intraoperative blood transfusion in the laparoscopic and open surgery group of patients.
Results: The operating time in the laparoscopic surgery group was significantly longer than in the open surgery group (mean difference 38.23 min). There was no significant differences in the number of dissected lymph nodes between the two groups when we pooled data for treatment of CRC (p=0.16). The OR of overall and local recurrences was significantly decreased in patients in the laparoscopic surgery group compared to those in the open surgery group (OR 0.83; 95%CI 0.70-0.98; p=0.03) and (OR 0.70; 95%CI 0.50-0.97; p=0.03), respectively. No significant differences were found between patients who underwent laparoscopic surgery and those that had open surgery for distant recurrences after CRC treatment.
Conclusions: There was statistically significant difference between laparoscopic or open surgery and development of local and overall CRC recurrences.