The investigators did not control for the individual year when surgery was performed, choosing instead to limit the analysis to cases performed from 2004 on, when it could be reasonably assumed that adjuvant therapy would be comparable, Dr. Cannon said.
When asked whether a financial analysis of the two procedures had been performed because of the greater expense associated with laparoscopic instruments, Dr. Cannon replied that cost data will be presented at the upcoming Society of Surgical Oncology Annual Cancer Symposium.
Dr. Cannon and Dr. Weber reported no conflicts of interest.*
*Correction, 3/8/2012: This story was updated to reflect the fact that Dr. Cannon has no conflicts of interest. The conflicts that were initially attributed to Dr. Cannon were incorrectly reported by the meeting organizers.