Colon cancer are among’st those cancers that fare better than the other abdominal cancers. The mainstay therapy is surgical removal of the tumor.

Conventionally the operation is done by making a large incision on the abdomen. This means more pain, prolonged hospital stay, higher chance of wound infection and hernia.

In the last decade, colon cancer surgery is increasingly performed by laparoscopic technique – operation done by making tiny holes in the abdomen. This implies less pain, faster recovery and less chance of wound infection and hernia.

There are reports that the chances of making a stoma – an artificial anus in the abdomen- is less when surgery for rectal cancer is done laparoscopically than when done by conventional technique.

There were some concerns regarding inadequate  cancer surgery earlier but modern research has dispelled those fears.

Encouraged by the success of laparoscopic technique in colon cancers, the technique has been expanded to include  other cancers such as in the stomach, esophagus and pancreas.