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Laparoscopic surgery has been increasingly performed in recent decades across the spectrum of gastrointestinal malignancies, including rectal cancer. Is this approach as safe and effective as open surgery for patients with low rectal cancers?
To find out, investigators in China conducted a multicenter, noninferiority, randomized trial involving 1039 patients (median age, 57; 60% male) with locally advanced low-lying rectal cancers (63% clinical stage II/III; median distance from dentate line, 3 cm). Patients were assigned 2:1 to laparoscopic surgery (by surgeons who had performed >100 laparoscopic total mesorectal excision procedures) or open surgery.
Initial results, at 30 days postsurgery, were as follows:
Operative time was longer with lapa…