OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of previous abdominal surgery(PAS) on laparoscopic resection of colorectal cancer.

METHODSThe retrospective cohort study was adopted.Clinical data of consecutive colorectal cancer patients with PAS history (past history of at least one abdominal surgery, exclusion of previous inguinal hernia repair, simple laparoscopic approach, appendectomy of the right lower quadrant and endoscopic therapy) undergoing laparoscopic surgery at the Cancer Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences between 2010 and 2015 were collected, meanwhile other colorectal cancer patients without PAS history were selected according to 1 to 1 match in age, sex, body mass index, American Society of Anesthesiologists score, tumor location, type of surgery, and staging of tumor. A total of 464 pairs were successfully matched. Intraoperative and postoperative conditions, perioperative complications and prognosis were compared between the two groups.

RESULTSIn PAS group, there were 341 males (73.5%) and 123 females (26.5%) with a median age of 62 (24-85) years; 317(68.3%) cases with only one previous abdominal surgery and 147(31.7%) with more than one; 389(83.8%) cases with abdominal midline incisions, 37(8.0%) with transverse incisions, 34(7.3%) with right subcostal incision and 4(0.9%) with left subcostal incision; 146(31.5%) cases undergoing gynecologic surgery, 84(18.1%) cholecystectomy, 52(11.2%) gastroduodenal surgery, 89(19.2%) colorectal surgery, 11(2.4%) small intestine surgery, 23(5.0%) hapatectomy, 16(3.4%) pancreatic surgery, 8(1.7%) urological surgery, 18(3.9%) retroperitoneal tumor resection and 1(0.2%) other surgery. In no PAS group, there were 328 males (70.7%) and 136 females (29.3%) with a median age of 62(24-86) years. No significant differences in baseline data were found between the two groups (all P>0.05). As compared to no PAS group, PAS group had longer mean operative time [(208.0±27.0) minutes vs. (179.0±15.3) minutes, t=4.695, P=0.003] and higher rate of conversion to laparotomy [18.1%(84/464) vs. 11.6%(54/464), χ=7.217, P=0.003]. In the PAS group, conversion to laparotomy was more common due to adhesion reaction [8.8%(41/464) vs. 4.5%(21/464), χ=4.886, P=0.007]. There were no significant differences between the two groups in intraoperative bleeding and transfusion, lymph node dissection, circumferential margin and surgical margin, time to the first diet and postoperative hospital stay(all P>0.05). No significant differences in intraoperative and postoperative morbidity of complication were found between PAS group and no PAS group [3.7%(17/464) vs. 2.8%(13/464), P=0.346; 20.3%(94/464) vs. 18.5%(86/464), P=0.739]. Median follow-up of the whole patients was 32.0(0.5-79.0) months, and there was no significant difference between the two groups [PAS group 31.0(0.5-79.0) months vs. no PAS group 33.0(1.0-75.0) months, P=0.391]. In PAS and no PAS group, the 3-year disease-free survival rate was 68.1%(95%CI: 62.0%-74.2%) and 68.5%(95%CI: 63.0%-74.0%)(P=0.764), and 3-year overall survival rate was 78.5%(95%CI: 72.8%-81.4%) and 80.2%(95%CI:74.3%-86.1%)(P=0.528) respectively, whose differences were not significant.

CONCLUSIONExcept higher risk of conversion to laparotomy due to adhesion reaction, laparoscopic resection of colorectal cancer is safe and feasible in patients with PAS, and the prognosis is not affected by PAS.