Laparoscopic Surgery Improves Outcomes in Malnourished Colorectal Cancer Patients: Study

A new study published in the journal of Frontiers in Nutrition showed that when compared to other surgical techniques, malnourished patients with colorectal cancer who underwent laparoscopic surgery had improved overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS), shorter hospital stays, and fewer surgical and postoperative problems.

Prior to surgery, patients with colorectal cancer frequently exhibit malnutrition, which can have a detrimental effect on surgical results. Although laparoscopic surgery has shown better short-term results than open surgery, it is still unknown if these two surgical techniques are more effective in patients with colon cancer who are malnourished. Thus, the effectiveness of laparoscopic-assisted resection (LAR) and OR in malnourished patients with colorectal cancer was examined in this study.

This research compared surgical risks, recuperation durations, complication rates, and long-term results in order to examine the impact of malnutrition on surgical outcomes. In order to offer a stronger scientific foundation for clinical therapy and enhance the therapeutic efficacy and quality of life of patients with colorectal cancer, they also assessed the benefits and drawbacks of LAR and OR in this particular patient population.

Patients with colorectal cancer who underwent elective radical resection between 2015 and 2022 and had malnutrition as defined by the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) were included in this research. Depending on the type of operation, patients were split into two groups.

The clinicopathological traits of the two groups were balanced using propensity score matching (PSM). The groups' postoperative results and survival were compared, and independent risk variables for complications, OS, and DFS were found using multivariate analysis.

Following PSM of 424 malnourished enrolled patients, 173 patients each were included in the laparoscopic and open surgical groups. The laparoscopic radical resection group had lower rates of overall (p = 0.011) and surgical (p = 0.034) problems, as well as a shorter hospital stay following surgery (p < 0.001) than the open radical resection group.

Also, laparoscopic resection was linked to better OS (p = 0.0232) and DFS (p = 0.0401). Lastly, laparoscopic surgery was found to be an independent protective factor against OS, surgical complications, and overall problems.

Overall, malnourished patients with colorectal cancer who had laparoscopic surgery had better OS and DFS, a decreased incidence of surgical and overall postoperative problems, and a shorter hospital stay following surgery. 

Reference:

Dong, Q.-T., Zhang, Y.-X., Ling, R., Lin, Y.-Y., Zhang, P.-C., Lin, J., Hu, C.-Y., Yu, Z., & Chen, W.-Z. (2026). Efficacy of laparoscopic versus open surgery in malnourished patients with colorectal cancer. Frontiers in Nutrition, 13(1846888), 1846888. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2026.1846888