Abstract:Objective To compare the short-term efficacy and safety of transanal natural orifice specimen extraction surgery (Ta-NOSES) and conventional laparoscopic surgery in left-sided colon cancer.Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 35 patients with left-sided colon cancer admitted to the anorectal department of the hospital from January 2018 to December 2019. According to the different surgical methods, the patients were divided into experimental group (15 cases) and control group (20 cases). The observation group underwent Ta-NOSES, and the control group underwent conventional laparoscopic surgery. The perioperative related indicators, postoperative complications, postoperative pain scores, postoperative defecation control, short-term postoperative quality of life scores and 5-year postoperative follow-up of the two groups of patients were compared.Results There was no statistically significant difference in the intraoperative blood loss, stoma status and the number of lymph node dissections between the two groups of patients (P > 0.05). Moreover, no permanent stoma occurred in either group of patients. The operation time of the experimental group was longer than that of the control group, the first time to get out of bed and move around, the time of the first anal exhaust, the time of the first diet intake and the hospital stay were shorter than those of the control group, the hospitalization cost was significantly lower than that of the control group, the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). On 1 and 3 days after operation, the VAS scores of the experimental group were significantly lower than those of the control group. At 3 days after operation, the VAS scores of the two groups were significantly lower than those at 1 day after operation, and the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05).There was a statistically significant difference in postoperative Kirwan anal function grading between two groups of patients (P < 0.05), with the experimental group having a better grading (higher proportion of grade I), the control group had poor grading (with a higher proportion of grades Ⅱ, Ⅲ, and Ⅳ). There was no statistically significant difference in postoperative complications between the two groups of patients (P > 0.05). The scores of each item on the Short Form-36 (SF-36) in the experimental group were higher than those in the control group at 10 and 20 days after surgery (P < 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the scores of each item on the SF-36 between the two groups at 30 days after surgery (P > 0.05).The distant recurrence rate after surgery in the experimental group was 26.7%,compared with 25.0% in the control group, the difference was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). There were no tumor recurrence cases with the original incision site, rectal and intestinal cavity, pelvic cavity and other specimen removal routes in both groups. The 5-year survival rate of the experimental group was 73.3%, which was not statistically significantly different from that of the control group (70.0%) (P > 0.05).Conclusion Ta-NOSES in the treatment of left-sided colon cancer can alleviate postoperative pain compared with conventional laparoscopic surgery, promote the recovery of postoperative gastrointestinal function, improve the utilization rate of medical resources, reduce the economic burden of patients, improve the short-term quality of life after surgery, and does not increase the risks of postoperative complications and tumor metastasis and recurrence. It is worthy of clinical promotion and application.