Evaluation of surgical competence outcomes of patients operated during the learning curve in laparoscopic colorectal surgery

This study aimed to evaluate the oncological success and complication rates of laparoscopic colorectal surgery cases performed by a surgeon who was at the end of the learning curve and to reveal whether patients were cared by the surgeon during the learning curve by means of compromised patient safety. Laparoscopic colorectal surgery was performed on 78 patients by the same physician due to colorectal diseases between January 2018 and November 2020. The patients were divided into 2 groups as the first 39 (Group 1) and the second 39 (Group 2) according to the date of surgery. The differences between the groups in age, abdominal surgery history, comorbidity, pathological stage and neoadjuvant area parameters were not statistically significant (p>0.05). Bleeding was only seen in one patient in Group 2. two patients in Group 1 had anastomotic leak, one patient had ileus, three patients were reoperated, two patients had urinal incontinence, one patient had anal incontinence, and two patients had erectile dysfunction. In Group 2, two patients had myocardial infarcts and two patients had ileus. Both surgical procedure differences and complication differences between patient groups were statistically insignificant (p>0.05). Success rate in Group 1 was 82.0%, whereas it was 83.0% in Group 2 with statistically insignificant difference (p>0.05). Reoperation rate in Group 1 was 7.5% and 2.5% in Group 2, and differences were statistically insignificant (p>0.05). Post operation complication rate was 12.5% in Group 1 and 22.5% in Group 2 with statistically insignificant difference (p>0.05). Similar oncological success rates were achieved in patients undergoing laparoscopic colorectal surgery for colorectal diseases by the same surgeon during the learning curve. There was no significant difference between the oncological success and complication rates of laparoscopic colorectal surgery cases performed by a surgeon at the end of the learning curve, and patients were not overlooked during the learning curve.