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Each year, just in the United States more than 600,000 surgical procedures are performed to treat a number of colon diseases. Diseases of the colon and rectum that might requiring surgical intervention include diverticulitis, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's colitis, colonic polyps not amenable to removal by colonoscopy, tumors (benign and malignant), hemorrhage, as well as other entities.

Patients undergoing colon surgery often face a long and difficult recovery because the traditional "open" procedures are highly invasive. Most open surgeries of the colon require long incisions, and surgery results in an average hospital stay of 5-8 days and usually require 6 weeks for recovery.  

A technique known as minimally invasive laparoscopic colon surgery allows surgeons to perform many common colon procedures through small incisions. The approach assures successful treatment of patients' illnesses while minimizing the trauma of traditional surgery. Depending on the type of procedure, patients may leave the hospital in a few days and return to normal activities more quickly than patients recovering from open surgery.

In most laparoscopic colon resections, surgeons operate through 4 or 5 small openings (each about a quarter inch) while watching an enlarged image of the patient's internal organs on a television monitor. In some cases, one of the small openings may be lengthened to 2 or 3 inches to complete the procedure.

The common advantages of the laparoscopic colon surgery compare to the open technique are less postoperative pain, shorter hospital stay, faster recovery, and quicker return to normal activity.

Even though the laparoscopic colon surgery was introduced approximately 15 years ago, yet, only 3% of all colon resections are performed this way in the United States. The laparoscopic colon surgery is an advanced procedure that takes a long period of time to master. With increasing surgical experience, and improved minimally invasive technology, laparoscopic colorectal surgery has be offered to a great many patients with a variety of colorectal diseases, including colon cancer. 

Although laparoscopic colon resection has many benefits, it may not be appropriate for some patients. Obtain a thorough medical evaluation by a surgeon qualified in laparoscopic colon resection in consultation with your primary care physician to find out if the technique is appropriate for you.

Benefits of minimally invasive or laparoscopic procedures are:
less post-operative discomfort
faster post-operative recovery
less hospital stay
less internal scarring and better cosmetic result
less risk of wound infection and incisional hernia

NOTE: Patients should be evaluated medically as they would be for any open procedure, with particular attention paid to their cardiac and pulmonary status. Any laparoscopic procedure may need to be converted to an open one, and so patients deemed unfit for laparotomy should not undergo an elective laparoscopic procedure.