Surgical training on rectal cancer surgery: do supervised senior residents differ from consultants in outcomes?

INTRODUCTION: The present work is a comparative study to investigate the independent effect of tutored senior residents on rectal cancer surgery in an academic university hospital. The variable "surgeon" is held to be a major determinant of outcome following total mesorectal excision (TME) for rectal cancer.
OBJECTIVE: We hypothesized that TME can be tutored to senior surgical residents without compromising surgical and oncological outcomes.
METHODS: Demographics, preoperative characteristics, and surgical data from consecutive patients undergoing elective TME in an academic center over the last decade were retrospectively reviewed from a prospectively collected database. Outcomes were compared in the two cohorts by a principal surgeon (senior resident or staff) and supervised in all cases by a senior colorectal consultant. Association of outcome variables with the type of surgeon was determined by univariate and multivariate analyses and results were corrected by tumor's height.
RESULTS: A total of 230 patients were treated over the study period; 136 (59 %) surgeries were performed by staff surgeons (group S) and 94 (41 %) by residents (group R). Both groups were comparable except for distance to anal verge; staff surgeons operated on lower tumors and performed a high percentage of coloanal anastomosis. There were no statistical differences between groups in terms of surgical and oncological outcomes when tumors were located over 7 cm from the anal verge.
CONCLUSIONS: Rectal surgery can be performed by senior residents with equal results to staff surgeons when there is direct supervision by a senior consultant and when the tumor is located in the mid-upper rectum (>7 cm from the anal verge). For lower tumors, a careful selection must be made as the operation may require a higher level of training.