Surgical and oncological outcomes of right hemicolectomy with complete mesocolic excision in the treatment of right colon cancer: study protocol for a single-centre retrospective cohort study.

Abstract

Complete mesocolic excision (CME) with central vascular ligation (CVL) has been proposed as an oncologically superior surgical technique for right-sided colon cancer, mirroring the impact of total mesorectal excision (TME) in rectal cancer. While promising results have been reported, evidence from routine clinical practice, particularly within Swiss healthcare settings, remains limited. This study aims to evaluate the surgical and oncological outcomes of CME compared with standard right hemicolectomy (non-CME) over a 10-year period. This is a retrospective cohort study of adult patients who underwent right hemicolectomy, either CME or non-CME, for histologically confirmed adenocarcinoma of the right colon or right third of the transverse colon at a tertiary centre, between 2010 and 2020. Patients with concomitant malignancies or distant metastases will be excluded. The primary outcome is 3-year and 5-year disease-free survival. Secondary outcomes include number of harvested lymph nodes, 3-year and 5-year overall survival, and 30-day morbidity. This study was approved by the relevant Ethics Committee (CER-VD 2025-00503). All patients provided general consent for secondary use of anonymised data. Results will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal and presented at national and international conferences.