Critical appraisal of laparoscopic vs open rectal cancer surgery

Table 3 Oncologic characteristics and perioperative outcomes of study cohort

Variables		Lap (%) n = 200	Converted (%) n = 25	Open (%) n = 408	P value
Tumor grade	Well-differentiated	20 (10)	3 (12)	38 (9.3)	0.339
	Mod-differentiated	173 (86.5)	21 (84)	349 (85.6)
	Poorly-differentiated	7 (3.5)	1 (4)	21 (5.1)
Median lesion size (cm)		3.9	4.1	4.3	0.275
T stage	T1	18 (9)	3 (12)	23 (5.6)	0.151
	T2	43 (21.5)	4 (16)	73 (17.9)
	T3	126 (63)	9 (36)	265 (65)
	T4	13 (6.5)	9 (36)	47 (11.5)
Nodal status	N0	95 (47.5)	10 (40)	188 (46.1)	0.77
	N+	105 (52.5)	15 (60)	320 (53.9)
TNM stage	Stage I	47 (23.5)	3 (12)	69 (16.9)	0.086
	Stage II	51 (25.5)	4 (16)	111 (27.2)
	Stage III	75 (37.5)	9 (36)	162 (39.7)
	Stage IV	27 (13.5)	9 (36)	66 (16.2)
Perineural invasion	+	38 (19)	8 (32)	90 (22.1)	0.652
	-	162 (81)	17 (68)	318 (77.9)
Vascular invasion	+	61 (30.5)	11 (44)	135 (33.1)	0.617
	-	139 (69.5)	14 (56)	275 (66.9)
Median lymph nodes harvested (range)		14 (4-90)	15 (4-55)	14 (3-56)	0.447
Proximal margin (cm)		9.9 (0-30)	10 (2-22)	12 (0-39)	0.004
Distal margin (cm)		2.1 (1-15)	1.8 (1-15)	2 (1-14)	0.55
CRM < 2 mm		29 (14.5)	5 (20)	75 (18.4)	0.494
Median duration of surgery (min)		162	147	119	< 0.001
Length of hospitalization		7 (3-159)	7 (5-16)	8 (3-78)	< 0.001

CRM: Circumferential resection margin.