Advantages of laparoscope-assisted surgery for recurrent Crohn's disease

Minimally Invasive Surgery in Complex Crohn's Disease

Minimally invasive approaches are safe, feasible, and often recommended as the initial choice in the surgical management of Crohn's disease. However, a consensus has not been reached as the ideal approach in the surgical treatment of complex and recurrent Crohn's disease. Laparoscopy may provide advantages such as shorter length of stay and decreased postoperative pain and result in less adhesion formation in patients with complex disease. Robotic techniques may be beneficial in selected patients for completion proctectomy, providing better visualization in the narrow pelvis and increased dexterity. Decision of surgical technique should be made on a case-by-case basis.

Pediatric Crohn's Disease

The incidence of Crohn's disease in the pediatric population is increasing. While pediatric patients with Crohn's disease exhibit many of the characteristics of older patients, there are important differences in the clinical presentation and course of disease that can impact the clinical decisions made during treatment. The majority of children are diagnosed in the early teen years, but subgroups of very early onset and infantile Crohn's present much earlier and have a unique clinical course. Treatment paradigms follow the traditional laddered approach, but growth and development represent special considerations that must be given to pediatric-specific complications of the treatment and disease. Surgical intervention is an important component of Crohn's management and is often employed to allow improved nutritional intake or decrease reliance on medical treatments that compromise growth.

Hand-assisted laparoscopic restorative proctocolectomy with ileal pouch-anal anastomosis for ulcerative colitis

INTRODUCTION

In this study, we aimed to evaluate the feasibility and safety of undergoing restorative proctocolectomy through ileal pouch-anal anastomosis (RPC-IPAA) with hand-assisted laparoscopic (HALS) in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC).

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We reviewed 40 consecutive patients who underwent RPC-IPAA with HALS or open technique for treatment of UC between 2010 and 2013. Moreover, the intra-/post-operative outcomes were compared.

RESULTS

We found the median operative time was significantly longer in the HALS group while the blood loss was significantly less in patients with HALS than with open surgery. In the HALS group, the median duration of bed rest and the length of hospital stay were significantly shorter. Moreover, the rate of early post-operative complications in the HALS group was significantly less than that in the open surgery group, among which one patient died in the 30th day after surgery for the extensive use of steroids before the operation.

CONCLUSION

These findings clearly show that HALS RPC is safe and less invasiveness. HALS can become a more comfortable and standardised procedure for UC with the adoption of evolving technologies.

Laparoscopic surgery for Crohn's disease: a meta-analysis of perioperative complications and long term outcomes compared with open surgery

Background

Previous meta-analyses have had conflicting conclusions regarding the differences between laparoscopic and open techniques in patients with Crohn’s Disease. The objective of this meta-analysis was to compare outcomes in patients with Crohn’s disease undergoing laparoscopic or open surgical resection.

Methods

A literature search of EMBASE, MEDLINE, The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and the US National Institute of Health’s Clinical Trials Registry was completed. Randomized clinical trials and non-randomized comparative studies were included if laparoscopic and open surgical resections were compared. Primary outcomes assessed included perioperative complications, recurrence requiring surgery, small bowel obstruction and incisional hernia.

Results

34 studies were included in the analysis, and represented 2,519 patients. Pooled analysis showed reduced perioperative complications in patients undergoing laparoscopic resection vs. open resection (Risk Ratio 0.71, 95% CI 0.58 – 0.86, P = 0.001). There was no evidence of a difference in the rate of surgical recurrence (Rate Ratio 0.78, 95% CI 0.54 – 1.11, P = 0.17) or small bowel obstruction (Rate Ratio 0.63, 95% CI 0.28 – 1.45, P = 0.28) between techniques. There was evidence of a decrease in incisional hernia following laparoscopic surgery (Rate Ratio 0.24, 95% CI 0.07 – 0.82, P = 0.02).

Conclusions

This is the largest review in this topic. The results of this analysis are based primarily on non-randomized studies and thus have significant limitations in regards to selection bias, confounding, lack of blinding and potential publication bias. Although we found evidence of decreased perioperative complications and incisional hernia in the laparoscopic group, further randomized controlled trials, with adequate follow up, are needed before strong recommendations can be made.

Current status of laparoscopic surgery for patients with Crohn's disease

PURPOSE

Minimally invasive surgery is increasingly utilized in treatment for refractory or complicated Crohn's disease, and new developments aim at further reducing the abdominal trauma and improving the outcome. This review evaluates current literature about minimally invasive surgery for patients with Crohn's disease, latest advances in single-incision surgery, and methods of specimen extraction.

METHODS

Literature was reviewed with focus on the following topics: indications, surgical procedures, conversions, complications, and short- as well as long-term outcomes of laparoscopic compared to open surgery for refractory, complicated, and recurrent Crohn's disease.

RESULTS

Short-term benefits such as shorter hospital stay and faster postoperative recovery are accompanied by long-term benefits such as better cosmetic results and lower treatment-associated morbidity. Single-incision surgery and minimally invasive methods of specimen extraction help to further reduce the surgical trauma and are gradually implemented in the treatment.

CONCLUSION

In experienced centers, laparoscopic surgery for Crohn's disease is safe and as feasible as open operations, even for selected cases with operations for complicated or recurrent disease. However, accurate analysis of the data is complicated by the heterogeneity of clinical presentations as well as the variety of performed procedures. Additional long-term data are needed for evaluation of true benefits of the new techniques.

Minimally invasive approaches for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease

Despite significant improvements in medical management of inflammatory bowel disease, many of these patients still require surgery at some point in the course of their disease. Their young age and poor general conditions, worsened by the aggressive medical treatments, make minimally invasive approaches particularly enticing to this patient population. However, the typical inflammatory changes that characterize these diseases have hindered wide diffusion of laparoscopy in this setting, currently mostly pursued in high-volume referral centers, despite accumulating evidences in the literature supporting the benefits of minimally invasive surgery. The largest body of evidence currently available for terminal ileal Crohn’s disease shows improved short term outcomes after laparoscopic surgery, with prolonged operative times. For Crohn’s colitis, high quality evidence supporting laparoscopic surgery is lacking. Encouraging preliminary results have been obtained with the adoption of laparoscopic restorative total proctocolectomy for the treatment of ulcerative colitis. A consensus about patients’ selection and the need for staging has not been reached yet. Despite the lack of conclusive evidence, a wave of enthusiasm is pushing towards less invasive strategies, to further minimize surgical trauma, with single incision laparoscopic surgery being the most realistic future development.

Is laparoscopic surgery for recurrent Crohn's disease beneficial in patients with previous primary resection through midline laparotomy? A case-matched study

BACKGROUND

Patients undergoing abdominal surgery for Crohn's disease are predisposed to recurrence requiring reoperation. The effectiveness of laparoscopic versus open resection in patients with previous intestinal resection for Crohn's through midline laparotomy is controversial.

METHODS

Patients with previous open resection for intestinal Crohn's disease undergoing elective laparoscopic surgery for recurrent bowel disease from 1997 to 2011 were case-matched with open counterparts based on age (±5 years), gender, body mass index (±2 kg/m(2)), American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score, surgical procedure, and year of surgery (±3 years). Groups were compared using Chi-square or Fisher exact tests for categorical and the Wilcoxon rank-sum test for quantitative data.

RESULTS

26 patients undergoing laparoscopic ileocolectomy (n = 14), proctocolectomy (n = 5), small bowel resection (n = 4), abdominoperineal resection (n = 1), extended right colectomy (n = 1), and strictureplasty (n = 1) were well matched to 26 patients undergoing open surgery. The number of previous operations, disease phenotypes, steroid use, and comorbidities were comparable in the two groups. There were no deaths, and three patients (12%) required conversion because of adhesions. Laparoscopic and open groups had statistically similar operating times (169 versus 158 min, p = 0.94), estimated blood loss (222 versus 427 ml, p = 0.32), overall morbidity (39 versus 69%, p = 0.051), reoperation rates (8 versus 0%, p = 0.5), postoperative return of bowel function (3.5 ± 1.4 versus 3.9 ± 1.7 days, p = 0.3), mean length of hospital stay (6.4 ± 6.2 versus 6.9 ± 3.5 days, p = 0.12), and readmission rates (8 versus 12%, p = 0.64). Wound infection rate was decreased after laparoscopic surgery (0 versus 27%, p = 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

Surgery for recurrent Crohn's disease in patients with previous primary resection through laparotomy can be frequently and safely completed laparoscopically. Wound infection rates are reduced, but the recovery advantages of a minimally invasive approach are not maintained when compared with open surgery. The decision to operate laparoscopically should therefore be carefully calibrated.

Laparoscopic surgery for recurrent Crohn's disease

In spite of the recent improvements in drug therapy, surgery still represents the most frequent treatment for Crohn's disease (CD) complications. Laparoscopy has been widely applied over the last twenty years in colorectal surgery and was associated with lower postoperative pain, shorter hospitalization, faster return to daily activities, and better cosmetic results. Laparoscopy experienced a slower diffusion in inflammatory bowel disease surgery than in oncologic colorectal surgery, but proved to be safe and effective, and is currently considered the gold standard for the treatment of primary uncomplicated ileocolic CD. Indications for laparoscopy in CD have recently been widened to embrace more complicated or recurrent CD. This paper reviews the available data on the subset of recurrent CD patients. The reported results indicate that laparoscopy may be safely applied even in selected recurrent CD cases in hands of IBD surgeons with broad laparoscopic experience.

The role of hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery in subtotal and total colectomy for Crohn's colitis

BACKGROUND

Hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery (HALS) has gained wide clinical acceptance as a practical alternative to laparoscopically assisted surgery (LAP) for the surgical treatment of complex colorectal diseases (e.g., ulcerative colitis and diverticulitis). However, its role in the further challenging operation for Crohn's colitis (i.e., subtotal or total colectomy) has yet to be established. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility, safety, and potential benefit of HALS subtotal and total colectomy for Crohn's colitis.

METHODS

The study reviewed 38 consecutive patients who underwent subtotal or total colectomy as their initial abdominal surgery for Crohn's extensive colitis (involvement of 3 or more colonic segments) between 1992 and 2006. The patients were divided into three groups (open, LAP, and HALS), and their background and postoperative data were retrospectively analyzed.

RESULTS

The reviews included 14 open, 6 LAP, and 18 HALS cases. The groups were comparable in terms of age at surgery, gender, body mass index, extent and type of disease, indications, and procedures. The median operative time was significantly longer for LAP (330 min; range, 154-540 min) than for HALS (251 min; range, 165-340 min) or open surgery (200 min; range, 172-315 min). The blood loss was significantly less with LAP (170 ml; range, 115-257 ml) and HALS (225 ml; range, 35-890 ml) than with open surgery (438 ml; range, 280-780 ml). No difference was seen in postoperative complications, and no mortality occurred in the series.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings showed that HALS subtotal and total colectomies are feasible and safe. The HALS procedure currently seems potentially beneficial for patients with extensive Crohn's colitis by reducing the operative time for laparoscopic surgery while retaining its less invasiveness.