President Gordon B. Hinckley of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was reportedly resting comfortably in LDS Hospital Wednesday after laparoscopic surgery Tuesday to remove colon cancer.

Few details regarding President Hinckley's surgery or his condition have been released by church spokesmen. Church officials did say they have received an outpouring of well-wishes for President Hinckley.

Because of federal privacy laws, those caring for him cannot discuss his surgery, how the cancer was detected or what future treatment he might need. But several colon cancer experts not involved with his care talked about the disease and its treatment in general terms.

Colon cancer is one of the most treatable forms of cancer when it's detected early. The survival rate for stage 1 colon cancer is more than 90 percent, according to Dr. John Ward, medical oncologist at Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah.

Often, though, it is not detected early, and it is the No. 2 cause of cancer deaths in the United States and the third most common form of cancer. This year, about 150,000 Americans will be diagnosed with the disease.

"Unlike a lump in the breast, there are usually no definite symptoms except blood in the stool until the cancer is large and a later stage," said Dr. Eric D. Anderson, a general surgeon at Cottonwood Hospital, who added the cancer is most often found during a colonoscopy.

Surgery, called a colectomy, is the standard treatment for colon cancer and it's usually performed by general surgeons, according to the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons.

Laparoscopic colon surgery was introduced about 15 years ago and is used because it offers a quicker recovery time, less pain, smaller incisions and a shorter hospitalization, Anderson said. Unlike the traditional "open" abdomen surgery with an incision that may be 12 inches long, the multiple incisions in a laparoscope-assisted surgery range from smaller than an inch to one about 3 inches long through which the piece of cancerous colon is removed.

Traditional colectomy requires five to eight days in the hospital and an at-home recovery of at least six weeks. With laparoscopic surgery, the hospital stay is usually two to four days and individuals can return to work in two or three weeks.

The abdomen is inflated with carbon dioxide gas to give the surgeon room to work and a good view of what needs to be done. Then a laparoscope, attached to a camera that sends images to a video monitor, is inserted into one hole. The other incisions are used to insert instruments needed to remove the cancer and put the colon back together. When the surgery is finished, the carbon dioxide is removed.