Five-year Recurrence and Postoperative Complications After Laparoscopic Complete Mesocolic Excision- a Population-Based, Multicentred Study

This study was conducted as a population-based "before-and-after" cohort study following the implementation of LCME in the Central Denmark Region (CDR), Denmark, in 2017. The IDEAL framework (Idea, Development, Evaluation, Assessment, Long-term) was used for examining the outcome of a training program on the LCME adoption.

Training programme A LCME training program was conducted from March 2017 to October 2017 in the CDR, inspired by the National English Laparoscopic Colorectal Surgery Course.

Patients This study included all colon cancer patients undergoing a curative-intent bowel resection in the defined timeframe. Exclusion criteria comprised: 1) another synchronous colon cancer; 2) metastatic disease at the time of surgery; 3) non-curative procedures or local resections only; 4) Danish residency <10 years preoperatively; and 5) non-colon primary cancer.

Data sources The DCCG database, a national registry of newly diagnosed colon cancer patients, was used to identify the primary cohort. For follow-up data beyond 30 days after surgery, the cohort was linked to the following registries: 1) the Danish Civil Registration System (DCRS), 2) the Danish Cancer Registry (DCR), 3) the Danish National Patient Registry (DNPR), 4) the Danish Pathology Registry (DPR) and the Danish Pathological Data Bank (DPDB).

Outcome The primary outcome was the cumulative incidence of colon cancer recurrence 5 years after surgery. A validated algorithm was used to identify recurrence.