Short-term outcomes following intracorporeal vs. extracorporeal anastomosis after laparoscopic right and left-sided colectomy: a propensity score-matched study

Background:To compare the short-term outcomes of patients undergoing intracorporeal anastomosis (IA) during laparoscopic colectomy to those undergoing extracorporeal anastomosis (EA). Methods and materials:The study was a single-centre retrospective propensity score-matched analysis conducted. Consecutive patients who underwent elective laparoscopic colectomy without the double stapling technique between January 2018 and June 2021 were investigated. The main outcome was overall postoperative complications within 30 days after the procedure. The authors also performed a sub-analysis of the postoperative results of ileocolic anastomosis and colocolic anastomosis, respectively. Results:A total of 283 patients were initially extracted; after propensity score matching, there were 113 patients in each of the IA and EA groups. There were no differences in patient characteristics between the two groups. The IA group had a significantly longer operative time than the EA group (208 vs. 183 min, P=0.001). The rate of overall postoperative complications was significantly lower in the IA group (n=18, 15.9%) than in the EA group (n=34, 30.1%; P=0.02), especially in colocolic anastomosis after left-sided colectomy (IA: 23.8% vs. EA: 59.1%; P=0.03). Postoperative inflammatory marker levels were significantly higher in the IA group on postoperative day 1 but not on postoperative day 7. There was no difference in the postoperative lengths of hospital stay between the two groups, and no deaths occurred. Conclusion:The data suggest that performing IA during laparoscopic colectomy can potentially reduce the risk of postoperative complications, especially in colocolic anastomosis after left-sided colectomy.