Objective:

To evaluate the feasibility and safeness of a colorectal laparoscopic program in two centers form South America.

Method:

We retrospectively review the records of patients who underwent laparoscopic colorectal surgery from 2012 to 2018 in two tertiary care academic centers. Surgical indication, operative time, conversion rate, lymph nodes harvested, surgical margins and complications were analyzed. This results were then compared to the open approach.

Results:

We collected data from 505 patients, mean age 63.4, 50.9% male. The most frequent indication was colon cancer, mean operative time was 175 minutes. Conversion rate was 9.5%, mean nodes harvested was 15.9 with free resection margins in every case. Morbidity was 35.4% at 30 days, most of them were minor complications. The leak rate was 11.7 %. The 30-day mortality was 2.5%.

Conclusion:

The laparoscopic approach for colorectal surgery might represent a safe and feasible option in an tertiary care hospital from a developing country.

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