Laparoscopically Assisted Colon Surgery (Clinical Report‪)‬

Laparoscopy has been used in surgical procedures more frequently in the past decade because it reduces postoperative pain, decreases the length of hospitalization, decreases the duration of disability, and provides a better cosmetic result. We retrospectively reviewed our experience with laparoscopic colon surgery at Baylor University Medical Center. Since 1995, we have done 17 procedures, including 10 colon resections and 7 colostomies. The results in these patients have been quite good: only 1 patient was converted to an open procedure, and the remaining 16 patients experienced no mortality, major morbidity, or wound infection. In the early 1990s, surgeons began performing a variety of colon operations laparoscopically, including colectomy, colostomy, colostomy closure, and reversal of Hartmann's procedure. Cooperman, Fowler, Jacobs, and others did laparoscopically assisted colectomies by mobilizing the colon, preparing for resection intracorporeally, and then doing the actual resection and anastomosis extracorporeally through a mini-laparotomy incision (1-3). Franklin did the first fully intracorporeal resection and anastomosis in January 1991 (4).