Abstract
BACKGROUND: The incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) is increasing annually. Laparoscopic radical resection of CRC is a minimally invasive procedure preferred in clinical practice. AIM: To investigate the clinical effect of laparoscopic radical resection of CRC on the basis of propensity score matching (PSM). METHODS: The clinical data of 100 patients who received inpatient treatment for CRC at Changde Hospital, Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University (The First People's Hospital of Changde City) were analyzed retrospectively. The control group included patients who underwent open surgery (n = 43), and those who underwent laparoscopic surgery formed the observation group (n = 57). The baseline information of both groups was equipoised using 1 × 1 PSM. Differences in the perioperative parameters, inflammatory response, immune function, degree of pain, and physical status between the groups were analyzed. RESULTS: Thirty patients from both groups were successfully matched. After PSM, baseline data showed no statistically significant differences between the groups: (1) Perioperative parameters: The observation group had a longer surgery time, less intraoperative blood loss, earlier first ambulation and first anal exhaust times, and shorter gastric tube indwelling time than the control group; (2) Inflammatory response: 24 h after surgery, the levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), C-reactive protein (CRP), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) between groups were higher than preoperatively. IL-6, CRP, and TNF-α levels in the observation group were lower than in the control group; (3) Immune function: At 24 h after surgery, counts of CD4-positive T-lymphocytes (CD4(+)) and CD4(+)/CD8-positive T-lymphocytes (CD8(+)) in both groups were lower than those before surgery, whereas CD8(+) was higher than that before surgery. At 24 h after surgery, both CD4(+) counts and CD4(+)/CD8(+) in the observation group were higher than those in the control group, whereas CD8(+) counts were lower; (4) Degree of pain: The visual analog scale scores in the observation group were lower than those in the control group at 24 and 72 h after surgery; and (5) Physical status: One month after surgery, the Karnofsky performance score in the observation group was higher than that in the control group. CONCLUSION: Laparoscopic radical resection of CRC has significant benefits, such as reducing postoperative pain and postoperative inflammatory response, avoiding excessive immune inhibition, and contributing to postoperative recovery.