Laparoscopic Versus Open Right Colectomy for Cancer in the Era of Complete Mesocolic Excision with Central Vascular Ligation: Pathology and Short-Term Outcomes.

Colectomies performed according to complete mesocolic excision with central vascular ligation (CME-CVL) principles have been associated with enhanced oncologic outcomes. Nonetheless, laparoscopic CME-CVL right hemicolectomy has not been widely adopted. We aimed to compare the perioperative and pathology outcomes of laparoscopic and open CME-CVL right hemicolectomy. We compared data from a prospectively collected database regarding patients who underwent either laparoscopic or open CME-CVL right hemicolectomy for nonmetastatic right colon cancer in a University Hospital, between January 2012 and December 2018. A total of 130 consecutive patients were included in the study. Of them, 73 patients underwent laparoscopic and 57 patients open right colectomy, following the CME-CVL principles. The laparoscopic approach was associated with less hospital stay (6.6 versus 9.1 days;  < .001) and septic complications ( = .046), at a cost of an increased operative time (180 versus 125.1 minutes;  < .001). Patients treated with either open or laparoscopic approach presented similar outcomes regarding pathology endpoints. In fact, both groups demonstrated similar R0 resection rate ( = .202), number of harvested and positive lymph nodes ( = .751 and  = .734, respectively), number of harvested lymph nodes at the level of D1 and D2 lymph node dissection ( > .05), rate of vascular ( = .501), and perineural infiltration ( = .956). Furthermore, no difference was found regarding the rate of intact mesocolic plane ( = .799), along with the tumor diameter ( = .154) and the length of specimen ( = .163). Laparoscopic CME-CVL right hemicolectomy appears to offer certain advantages in short-term outcomes compared to open procedure. Pathology outcomes did not differ between the two approaches. Future studies should further evaluate their long-term outcomes.