Background and aims: Endoscopic treatment of large or colonoscopically inaccessible polyps or early stage tumors in the colon holds the risk of incomplete resection and colonic perforation. The combination of colonoscopy and laparoscopy offers a minimally invasive treatment modality for the complete resection of polyps with low risk. Aim of this study was to assess the feasibility and outcome of patients operated on by laparoendoscopic rendezvous procedures at the colon.
Materials and methods: The medical records of 38 patients (21 male, 17 female, median age 66 years [range 39-90]) undergoing rendezvous surgery at the colon were reviewed prospectively. Follow-up data were obtained by clinical examination and personal communication via telephone or questionnaire. The median follow up was 54 months.
Results: From January 1998 until April 2007, 38 patients were treated with rendezvous procedures in our hospital. In 30 cases, a colonoscopically assisted laparoscopic procedure was performed and in eight patients a laparoscopically controlled colonoscopic procedure. A benign lesion was confirmed histologically in 31 patients. In five cases, histopathologic diagnosis revealed a malignancy necessitating colonic surgery. A coprolith extraction and a suture of the sigma were performed in one case each. Complications occurred in two patients. One patient developed an anastomosis insufficiency that necessitated a revision. One patient developed pneumonia postoperatively. A conversion to laparotomy had to be performed in two cases.
Conclusion: Rendezvous procedures offer a safe, minimal-invasive therapeutic approach allowing the resection of benign sessile or colonoscopically inaccessible localized polyps and of early stage colon cancer.