Abstract
Objective : To investigate the effects of obesity on perioperative outcomes in laparoscopic surgery for right-sided colon cancer.
Subjects and methods : The subjects were 80 patients who underwent laparoscopic surgery for right-sided colon cancer between April 2010 and December 2013. They were classified into obese and non-obese groups using a body mass index (BMI) of ≥25 kg/m2 and a visceral fat area (VFA) on X-ray computed tomography (CT) of ≥100 cm2 as reference values. Patient background characteristics and perioperative outcomes were investigated retrospectively.
Results : No significant intergroup differences were found for patient background characteristics or postoperative outcomes. As for surgical outcomes, operative time was significantly longer (P=0.026) and intraoperative blood loss was significantly higher (P=0.025) in the high VFA group, but no significant intergroup differences were observed by BMI classification.
Conclusion : In laparoscopic surgery for right-sided colon cancer, VFA, which reflects the amount of visceral fat, was considered a better obesity-related indicator than BMI for accurately predicting the level of surgical difficulty.
