Short-term Outcomes of Laparoscopic Surgery for Synchronous Gastric and Colorectal Cancer

[Abstract] Background Although laparoscopic gastrectomy and laparoscopic colorectal surgery are being performed at increasing regularity, simultaneous laparoscopic surgery for synchronous gastric and colorectal cancer is rare, and its feasibility and safety are unknown. We addressed this question by retrospectively evaluating the short-term surgical outcomes of simultaneous laparoscopic surgery performed at our hospital for synchronous gastric and colorectal cancers. Methods The study group comprised 8 patients (5 men, 3 women, aged 51-84 years) who underwent simultaneous laparoscopic gastrectomy and colorectal surgery at St. Marianna University School of Medicine Hospital between 2011 and 2014. Patients were followed up for at least 14 months. We reviewed patient and tumor characteristics; comorbidities; specific surgical procedures performed; short-term surgical outcomes, including operation time, estimated intraoperative blood loss; postoperative morbidity; duration of postoperative hospital stay; recurrence or metastasis; and mortality. Results Median operation time for the simultaneous surgery was 674 min, and median estimated blood loss was 242 mg. There were no intraoperative complications, and no conversion to open surgery was necessary. Postoperative morbidity occurred in 2 patients-ileus in 1 and pulmonary edema in 1. Median postoperative hospital stay was 15.5 days. There were no postoperative deaths. Conclusion Short-term outcomes in our patient group suggest that simultaneous laparoscopic surgery is both feasible and safe for patients with synchronous gastric and colorectal cancer.