Is it possible to adopt the same oncological approach in urgent surgery for colon cancer?

BACKGROUND: Locoregional complications may occur in up to 30% of patients with colon cancer. As they are frequent events in the natural history of this disease, there should be a concern in offering an oncologically adequate surgical treatment to these patients. AIM: To compare the oncological radicality of surgery for colon cancer between urgent and elective cases. METHODS: One-hundred and eighty-nine consecutive patients with non-metastatic colon adenocarcinoma were studied over two years in a single institution, who underwent surgical resection as the first therapeutic approach, with 123 elective and 66 urgent cases. The assessment of oncological radicality was performed by analyzing the extension of the longitudinal margins of resection, the number of resected lymph nodes, and the percentage of surgeries with 12 or more resected lymph nodes. Other clinicopathological variables were compared between the two groups in terms of sex, age, tumor location, type of urgency, surgical access, staging, compromised lymph nodes rate, differentiation grade, angiolymphatic and perineural invasion, and early mortality. There was no difference in other clinicopathological variables studied. CONCLUSION: Oncological radicality of colon cancer surgery may be achieved in both emergency and elective procedures.