Laparoscopic colectomy: trends in implementation in Canada and globally

Comparisons with other high-income countries suggest that Canada has been slower to adopt laparoscopic colectomy (LC). The Canadian Association of General Surgeons sought to evaluate the barriers to adoption of laparoscopic colon surgery and to propose potential intervention strategies to enhance the use of the procedure. Given the clinical benefits of laparoscopic surgery for patients, the increasing needs for surgical care and the desire of Canadian general surgeons to advance their specialty and enhance the care of their patients, it is an important priority to improve the utilization of LC.
The first study of laparoscopic colectomy (LC) was published in 1991. (1) Throughout the 1990s, adoption of the technique was hampered by concerns regarding oncologic safety and effectiveness. (2,3) This [...]