OBJECTIVETo explore the feasibility and application value of the preservation of vegetative nervous functions in radical resection for right-sided colon cancer.

METHODSClinical data of 55 cases with right-sided colon cancer undergoing laparoscopic D3+ complete mesocolic excision (CME) radical resection from January 2016 to July 2017 at Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery of Guangdong Province Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine were retrospectively analyzed. Exclusion criteria included emergency surgery for various reasons, intestinal obstruction or perforation, distant metastasis or locally advanced cancer, previous history of abdominal surgery and preoperative neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. Twenty-nine cases underwent lymphadenectomy with intrathecal dissection of superior mesenteric artery (SMA) and part of superior mesenteric plexus was resected (nerve partial resection group, NPR group). Twenty-six cases received lymphadenectomy with the clearance of lymphatic adipose tissue on the right side of SMA by sharp or obtuse method outside the sheath; the sheath of superior mesenteric vein (SMV) was entered at the junction of SMA and SMV; the SMV was naked in the sheath; the third station lymph node dissection was completed with preservation of superior mesenteric plexus (nerve preserved group, NP group). Intra-operative and postoperative complications were compared between two groups.

RESULTSThe baseline data were not significantly different between two groups (all P>0.05). The operation time in NP group was significantly shorter than that in NPR group [(164.0±19.8) minutes vs. (176.0±19.7) minutes, t=2.249, P=0.029]. No significant differences in operative blood loss, operative vessel damage, postoperative time to flatus, postoperative hospital stay and abdominal pain were observed between two groups(all P>0.05). The number of harvested lymph node in two groups was 28.5±7.8 and 27.6±6.5 respectively without significant difference(P>0.05). As compared to NPR group, NP group had lower incidence of chylous leakage[3.8%(1/26) vs. 37.9%(11/29), χ²=9.337, P=0.002] and postoperative diarrhea [15.4%(4/26) vs. 41.4%(12/29), χ²=4.491, P=0.034].

CONCLUSIONAutonomic nerve-preserving D3+ CME radical resection for right-sided colon cancer is safe and feasible, and can prevent the postoperative gastrointestinal dysfunction caused by nerve injury and decrease the risk of chylous leakage.