Histopathological findings regarding oncological feasibility of laparoscopic versus open approach for rectal cancer: a retrospective study.

Worldwide, colorectal cancer is one of the most prevalent malignancies. Due to oncological safety concerns, data regarding the laparoscopic surgical treatment of rectal cancer is scarce. Our study's main aim was investigate the oncological adequacy of laparoscopic surgery in the treatment of rectal cancer by comparing its oncological reliability with the oncological results obtained after open surgery for rectal cancer. In this retrospective study, 80 patients who underwent surgery for rectal cancer, admitted in our Clinic between January 1, 2014-November 31, 2015 were enrolled. The studied group was stratified according to the way of approach chosen: classic surgery (59 cases) and laparoscopic surgery (21 cases), respectively. Based on the histopathological examination, we analyzed the histological grading of rectal neoplasms, TNM staging, resection margins, lymphovascular and perineural invasion and the number of regional lymph nodes identified in the perirectal adipose tissue. The average number of isolated lymph nodes demonstrated non-significant differences between the two types of approaches: 20 lymph nodes in the classical approach versus 18 lymph nodes in the laparoscopic approach (p=0.109). Lymph nodes affected by metastases were associated in the majority of cases with stage IIIB and stage IIIC rectal cancers (100% and 83.3%, respectively). The laparoscopic approach proved to be efficient in terms of reaching oncological resection limits. On the resection specimens extracted by laparoscopic surgery, the residual tumor (R1) was encountered in 5% of the cases versus in 6.7% of the cases after classic surgery. The laparoscopic approach is oncologically feasible in the rectal cancer surgical treatment.