LAUSR

Purpose To the best of our knowledge, no studies have compared the short-term outcomes between colo-colonic extracorporeal triangular anastomosis (TA) and functional end-to-end anastomosis (FEEA), with a focus on laparoscopic-assisted surgery for left-sided colon cancer. Therefore, this study compared the short-term outcomes of these anastomoses using propensity score matching analysis. Methods This retrospective study included 129 patients with stage I–IV left-sided colon cancer who underwent laparoscopic-assisted surgery with colo-colonic extracorporeal TA ( n  = 75) or FEEA ( n  = 54) between May 2009 and March 2021. After propensity score matching, 84 patients (TA, n  = 42; FEEA, n  = 42) were included in the analysis. The primary endpoint was the complication rate for all grades, and the secondary endpoints were the rates of Clavien − Dindo grade ≥ 3 complications and anastomotic leakage. Results In the matched cohort, there were no significant differences in the complication rates for all grades (35.7% vs. 26.2%, p  = 0.479), Clavien − Dindo grade ≥ 3 complications (11.9% vs. 11.9%, p  = 1), and anastomotic leakage (0% vs. 4.8%, p  = 0.494) between the TA and FEEA groups. In the univariate logistic regression analysis, TA did not increase the frequency of complications for any grades compared with FEEA (odds ratio: 1.570, 95% confidence interval: 0.616–3.980, p  = 0.347). Conclusion Extracorporeal TA demonstrated equivalent short-term outcomes compared with FEEA in cases of laparoscopic-assisted surgery for left-sided colon cancer. TA can be an alternative anastomosis technique in cases wherein FEEA is difficult to perform.