Supervised training of laparoscopic colorectal cancer resections does not adversely affect short- and long-term outcomes: a Propensity-score-matched cohort study

Background Supervised training of laparoscopic colorectal cancer surgery to fellows and consultants (trainees) may raise doubts regarding safety and oncological adequacy. This study investigated these concerns by comparing the short- and long-term outcomes of matched supervised training cases to cases performed by the trainer himself. Methods A prospective database was analysed retrospectively. All elective laparoscopic colorectal cancer resections in curative intent of adult patients (>= 18 years) which were performed (non-training cases) or supervised to trainees (training cases) by a single laparoscopic expert surgeon (trainer) were identified. All trainees were specialist surgeons in training for laparoscopic colorectal surgery. Supervised training was standardised. Training cases were 1:1 propensity-score matched to non-training cases using age, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) grade, tumour site (rectum, left and right colon) and American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) tumour stage. The resulting groups were analysed for both short- (operative, oncological, complications) and long-term (time to recurrence, overall and disease-free survival) outcomes. Results From 10/2006 to 2/2016, a total of 675 resections met the inclusion criteria, of which 95 were training cases. These resections were matched to 95 non-training cases. None of the matched covariates exhibited an imbalance greater than 0.25 (d>0.25). There were no significant differences in short- (length of procedure, conversion rate, blood loss, postoperative complications, R0 resections, lymph node harvest) and long-term outcomes. When comparing training cases to non-training cases, 5-year overall and disease-free survival rates were 71.6% (62.4-82.2) versus 81.9% (74.2-90.4) and 70.0% (60.8-80.6) versus 73.6% (64.9-83.3), respectively (not significant). The corresponding hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals, p) were 0.57 (0.32-1.02, p = 0.057) and 0.87 (0.51-1.48, p = 0.61), respectively (univariate Cox proportional hazard model). Conclusions Standardised supervised training of laparoscopic colorectal cancer procedures to specialist surgeons may not adversely impact short- and long-term outcomes. This result may also apply to newer surgical techniques as long as standardised teaching methods are followed.