Keyhole surgery is one of the most common approaches to doing colon cancer surgery. I usually recommend keyhole surgery unless the patient has one or more of the following problems.
- Severe heart condition where the patient cannot tolerate prolonged operation or gas distension of the abdomen (for keyhole surgery)
- Severe lung condition where the patient cannot tolerate gas distension of the abdomen
- Large colorectal cancer greater than 6cm. A wound will need to be created that is large enough to remove the cancer. If the cancer is very large, the benefit of keyhole surgery is lost and open surgery can be equally effective in such cases.
- Multiple previous abdominal surgeries. If a patient has had several abdominal operations, the scars of previous surgeries make it difficult to visualize well during keyhole surgery.
Please discuss with your surgeon regarding the options. Some surgeons are more proficient or comfortable with either open or keyhole approach. The long term outcome from either approach can be equally good if the surgeon does the operation well.
