• Bridie S Thompson, Michael D Coory, and John W Lumley.
• School of Population Health, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. bridie_thompson@health.qld.gov.au
• Med. J. Aust. 2011 May 2; 194 (9): 443-7.

ObjectiveTo examine the trends in the uptake of laparoscopic resection for colorectal cancer.Design And SettingRetrospective analysis of Australia-wide data on elective resections for colorectal cancer over the 8 financial years 2000-01 to 2007-08, obtained from the National Hospital Morbidity Database.Main Outcome MeasuresNational trends in annual percentage of colorectal resections for cancer that were conducted laparoscopically for each year, stratified by hospitals conducting a high volume of elective resections (40 or more/year) versus a low volume, and by public versus private hospitals.ResultsFor all Australian hospitals combined, the percentage of resections for colon cancer conducted laparoscopically increased from 2.4% in 2000-01 to 27.5% in 2007-08. For rectal cancer, this increase was from 1.1% to 21.5%. The largest increases were seen in high-volume private hospitals (colon cancer, 2.7% to 34.1%; rectal cancer, 1.5% to 26.2%), but increases also occurred in high-volume public hospitals (colon cancer, 2.7% to 32.2%; rectal cancer, 0.5% to 20.3%), low-volume private (colon cancer, 3.8% to 27.1%; rectal cancer, 2.4% to 25.5%) and low-volume public (colon cancer, 1.1% to 17.0%; rectal cancer, 0.5% to 13.8%) hospitals.ConclusionsThe use of laparoscopic resection for colorectal cancer has increased throughout Australian hospitals. Our findings provide the data necessary to ensure adequate resource allocation by the appropriate medical bodies to achieve optimal success in the uptake of laparoscopic resection for colorectal cancer in Australia.

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