Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Oncol. Apr 10, 2016; 7(2): 155-159
Published online Apr 10, 2016. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v7.i2.155
Present laparoscopic surgery for colorectal cancer in Japan
Takeo Sato, Masahiko Watanabe
Takeo Sato, Masahiko Watanabe, Department of Surgery, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-0374, Japan
Author contributions: Sato T and Watanabe M contributed equally to this work; Sato T drafted the manuscript; Watanabe M made significant edits of intellectual content; Sato T and Watanabe M approved the overall works.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Sato T and Watanabe M declare they have no conflict of interest or financial ties.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Masahiko Watanabe, MD, PhD, Department of Surgery, Kitasato University School of Medicine, 1-15-1 Kitasato, Minami-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-0374, Japan. intl-aff@kitasato-u.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-42-7788111 Fax: +81-42-7789556
Received: July 1, 2015
Peer-review started: July 7, 2015
First decision: September 22, 2015
Revised: October 19, 2015
Accepted: December 17, 2015
Article in press: December 18, 2015
Published online: April 10, 2016
Abstract

In many clinical studies, laparoscopic surgery (LS) for colon cancer has been shown to be less invasive than open surgery (OS) while maintaining similar safety. Furthermore, there are no significant differences between LS and OS in long-term outcomes. Thus, LS has been accepted as one of the standard treatments for colon cancer. In the treatments of rectal cancer as well, LS has achieved favorable outcomes, with many reports showing long-term outcomes comparable to those of OS. Furthermore, the magnification in laparoscopy improves visualization in the pelvic cavity and facilitates precise manipulation, as well as providing excellent educational effects. For these reasons, rectal cancer has seemed to be well indicated for LS, as has been colon cancer. The indication for LS in the treatment of locally advanced rectal cancer, which is relatively unresectable (e.g., cancer invading other organs), remains an open issue. In recent years, new techniques such as single-port and robotic surgery have begun to be introduced for LS. Presently, various clinical studies in our country as well as in most Western countries have demonstrated that LS, with these new techniques, are gradually showing long-term outcomes.

Keywords: Laparoscopic surgery, Colorectal cancer, Colectomy, Total mesorectal excision, Randomized controlled trial, Robotic surgery, Single-port surgery

Core tip: Our findings describe the merits of laparoscopic surgery (LS) over open surgery. We present some new LS techniques. We conclude with an explanation of the safety and curability of LS for colorectal cancer.