Surgical approach to right colon cancer: From open technique to robot. State of art

Core Tip

Core tip: We report a topic highlight of the mini-invasive treatment of the right colon pathologies, focusing on the Literature State of Art and comparing the open surgery vs the different laparoscopic and robotic procedures. We try to analyze the different current approaches to right colon cancer treatment focusing in particular light and shadows of totally laparoscopic right colectomy compared to other mini-invasive (single incision laparoscopic colectomy, laparoscopic assisted right colectomy, laparoscopic facilitated right colectomy, hand-assisted right colectomy, robotic right colectomy) and open procedure. The two main characteristics of these techniques are the different type of anastomosis: Intracorporeal or extracorporeal and the different incision (suprapubic vs median vs transverse on right side of abdomen). The different laparoscopic techniques meet the same oncological criteria of radicalism as the open surgery for the right colon. The laparoscopic techniques with intracorporeal anastomosis for the right colon remain a technical challenge but they seem to have some theoretical advantages compared to the other laparoscopic and open procedures described in our study even if further prospective randomized trials are necessary to confirm it.