Assessment of Mortality Risk for Patients Undergoing Colorectal Surgery Using Regression Modeling

Abstract

Since its beginning in the 1990s, laparoscopic surgical technique has partly or event totally replaced the classical open technique in some branches of surgery. The surgical resection of colorectal cancer, which this paper is engaged in, is no exception. However, besides the well-known benefits of this technique, there are also less known disadvantages, which can significantly influence morbidity. In such a situation we can ask, which technique will guarantee longer survival time to the patient. The medical survival censored data of 866 patients were evaluated by the Cox proportional hazards model in order to answer this question and to find the other parameters, which can influence the survival time of the patient. The surgical techniques were compared separately for patients with surgical resection of colon and for patients with surgical resection of rectum, because these two types of techniques are inherently different. Survival analysis performed by the Cox proportional hazards model led in both cases to the same conclusion, namely that there is no statistically significant difference in survival times between the two groups of patients operated by different surgical techniques.