Individualization of surgical management for early-stage colonic cancer.

A significant number of patients each year undergo radical segmental colectomy for node-negative colonic cancer in the UK. They are likely to represent 50% of our colonic cancer population in the future due to the implementation of the National Bowel Cancer Screening Programme. Short-term morbidity rates of up to 40% are associated with the current surgical treatment and need serious consideration. In this article, we discuss a combination of two techniques that will allow minimally invasive treatment in an increasing number of patients with early colonic cancer.