The lower He-sea points playing a significant role in postoperative ileus in colorectal cancer treated with acupuncture: based on machine-learning

The safety and short-term benefits of laparoscopic colectomy for cancer remain debatable. The multicentre COLOR (COlon cancer Laparoscopic or Open Resection) trial was done to assess the safety and benefit of laparoscopic resection compared with open resection for curative treatment of patients with cancer of the right or left colon. 627 patients were randomly assigned to laparoscopic surgery and 621 patients to open surgery. The primary endpoint was cancer-free survival 3 years after surgery. Secondary outcomes were short-term morbidity and mortality, number of positive resection margins, local recurrence, port-site or wound-site recurrence, metastasis, overall survival, and blood loss during surgery. Analysis was by intention to treat. Here, clinical characteristics, operative findings, and postoperative outcome are reported. Patients assigned laparoscopic resection had less blood loss compared with those assigned open resection (median 100 mL [range 0-2700] vs 175 mL [0-2000], p<0.0001), although laparoscopic surgery lasted 30 min longer than did open surgery (p<0.0001). Conversion to open surgery was needed for 91 (17%) patients undergoing the laparoscopic procedure. Radicality of resection as assessed by number of removed lymph nodes and length of resected oral and aboral bowel did not differ between groups. Laparoscopic colectomy was associated with earlier recovery of bowel function (p<0.0001), need for fewer analgesics, and with a shorter hospital stay (p<0.0001) compared with open colectomy. Morbidity and mortality 28 days after colectomy did not differ between groups. Laparoscopic surgery can be used for safe and radical resection of cancer in the right, left, and sigmoid colon.

There is a lack of an internationally accepted standardised clinical definition for postoperative ileus (POI). This has made it difficult to estimate incidence and identify risk factors and has compromised external validity of clinical trials. To clarify terminology of POI and propose concise, clinically quantifiable definitions. A systematic review extracted definitions from randomised trials published between 1996 and 2011 investigating POI after abdominal surgery. This was followed by a global survey seeking opinions of those who have published in the field. Definitions were extracted from 52 identified trials. Responses were received in the survey from 45 of 118 corresponding authors. Data were amalgamated to synthesise the following definitions: postoperative ileus (POI) "interval from surgery until passage of flatus/stool AND tolerance of an oral diet"; prolonged POI "two or more of nausea/vomiting, inability to tolerate oral diet over 24 h, absence of flatus over 24 h, distension, radiologic confirmation occurring on or after day 4 postoperatively without prior resolution of POI"; recurrent POI "two or more of nausea/vomiting, inability to tolerate oral diet over 24 h, absence of flatus over 24 h, distension, radiologic confirmation, occurring after apparent resolution of POI". Concordance of the latter two definitions with survey responses were ≥75 %. We have proposed standardised endpoints for use in future studies to facilitate objective comparison of competing interventions.