Short-term and Long-term Outcomes Regarding Laparoscopic Versus Open Surgery for Low Rectal Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Purpose:It is to disclose whether the laparoscopic technique is feasible or not in the treatment of low rectal cancer.Materials and Methods:We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, Ovid, Web of Science, Science Direct, SpringerLink, EBSCO, and the Cochrane Library databases for the eligible studies. Review Manager 5.2 was used to test the heterogeneity and to evaluate the overall test performance.Results:Twelve studies met the final inclusion criteria (total n=2973). The pooled analyses showed, despite longer operation times, that there were significantly less blood loss, fewer transfusions, shorter times to bowel function recovery, resumed diet and hospital durations, and lower overall complication and wound infection rates. The compared results of the lymph node harvest number, distal resection margin, circumferential resection margin involvement, local and distant recurrences, disease-free survival, and overall survival were similar between both the groups.Conclusion:Laparoscopic surgery is safe and feasible for the treatment of low rectal cancer.