A study which has taken ten years to carry out concludes that keyhole surgery is as effective in treating colon cancer as conventional surgery. However, with keyhole surgery the patient's belly does not have to be opened up in order to get a full view of the tumor (UK spelling - tumour).

With keyhole surgery all you need is a 2-inch cut, with conventional surgery an 8-inch cut is needed. In conventional surgery, surgeons remove a segment of the colon. They make an 8-inch cut on the abdomen.

With keyhole surgery, on the other hand, the surgeon uses a tiny video camera (laparoscope). He/she uses super small surgical instruments. The camera and instruments are inserted through a 2-inch cut (incision). The tumor or diseased section of the colon is taken out through the small two-inch cut.

In this study, which involved 48 US and Canadian hospitals, the findings were encouraging. Survival rates, tumor recurrence and surgical complications were identical (comparing conventional and keyhole surgery). However, patients who underwent keyhole surgery, or laparoscopic surgery, experienced less pain and were discharged from hospital sooner.

The findings dispel the 'myth' that keyhole surgery tumors returned more often after keyhole surgery than with conventional surgery. Some patchy studies in the early 1990s indicated that keyhole surgery was not appropriate for colon cancer. Doctors stopped carrying out keyhole surgery for colon cancer as a result.

You can read about this latest study in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Many surgeons are saying that the option of keyhole surgery will be welcomed by patients who find the prospect of the pain and opening up of their belly frightening.

In the USA alone, 100,000 colon cancer operations are carried out annually - all of them with conventional surgery. The numbers of keyhole operations will now rise.

A surgeon needs to train to be able to carry out keyhole surgery. It is much more difficult to perform than conventional surgery. Most keyhole surgeons do not see an immediate boom, rather a gradual increase that will gather pace.

Keyhole surgery is not appropriate if the tumor has spread widely to nearby organs and lymph nodes.

Surgeons are now looking at the possibilities of keyhole surgery for other cancers, such as cancer of the liver, stomach and esophagus.