Comparison of Clinical Efficacy and Inflammation Status Associated with Laparoscopic Surgery and Traditional Open Surgery in Elderly Colon Cancer Patients

Abstract

Objective: To compare and analyze clinical efficacy and inflammation status of elderly patients with colon cancer (CC) treated with laparoscopy and those treated with traditional open surgery. Methods: This study was designed as a retrospective trial. A total of 128 elderly patients with CC diagnosed in our hospital from January 2020 to December 2021 who were scheduled for surgical treatment were recruited as initial subjects. After excluding those who did not meet the inclusion criteria, 122 patients were finally enrolled in the study. All patients were assigned to two groups: Experimental group (n = 62) and traditional group (n = 60), based on surgical method used. The traditional group underwent traditional open surgery, while the observation group received laparoscopic surgery. The general data of all patients were collected, and the perioperative indices, clinical efficacy, changes in inflammatory factor levels, and occurrence of complications the two groups were compared. Results: The size of surgical incisions, intraoperative blood loss, recovery time of gastrointestinal function, time lapse before eating, time lag before flatulence, time lag before getting out of bed, and hospitalization time were lower in the experimental group than in the traditional group (p > 0.05). The experimental group presented markedly higher total clinical efficiency than the traditional group (p < 0.05). There were no significant differences in levels of inflammatory factors between the two groups before therapy (p > 0.05). However, after therapy, the experimental group presented lower levels of CRP (C-reactive protein), IL-6 (interleukin 6) and TNF-α (tumor necrosis factor-α) levels, and lower incidence of complications than the traditional group (p < 0.05). Conclusions: For elderly patients with colon cancer, laparoscopic surgery effectively lowered the levels of inflammatory factors, decreased the probability of complications and provided better safety, thereby offering better clinical efficacy, less trauma and better perioperative conditions than traditional open surgery. Therefore, laparoscopic surgery has highly beneficial potential for clinical application in elderly CC patients.