Quality of resection in emergency colon cancer surgery – a retrospective study

Background. The surgical attitude and the treatment towards colon cancer did not change significantly over the past years. The most important features in achieving oncologically safe surgery are clean resection wedges and the removal of the locoregional lymph nodes. This study aimed to identify if emergency colon cancer surgery has any influence on the type and quality of resections. Methods. We performed a retrospective study of 163 patients admitted in our surgical department with colon cancer who underwent an oncological resection. The patients were divided in two groups: group A included patients that underwent emergency surgery in the emergency and group B included patients undergoing elective surgery. A comparative analysis of intraoperative markers for oncologic quality of resection and for the postoperative outcomes was performed. Results. Of the 163 patients included in this study, 104 were operated in the emergency setting and 59 as elective cases. The preoperative status of patients indicated that emergency cases had a more precarious nutritional and biological status. When the quality of oncologic resection was analyzed, no differences were observed. A higher number of ostomies were created in group A, as well as worse postoperative outcomes. Conclusion. Emergency surgery for colon cancer did not affect the quality of resection, but the morbidity was higher in patients who presented as surgical emergency.