Abstract: Objective To compare the medial-to-lateral approach with the lateral-to-medial approach in laparoscopic right hemi-colectomy for right colon cancer. Methods A prospective randomized controlled trial was performed in the Fujian provincial tumor hospital between January 2007 and July 2009. Forty-eight cases with right eolon cancer were randomly divided into two groups:medial-to- lateral laparoscopic right hemi-colectomy group(group M) and lateral-to-medial laparoscopic right hemicolectomy group(group L). Primary outcome(operative time) and secondary outcomes (estimated blood loss, intra-operative complication, post-operative complication, number of lymph node retrieval, hospital stay) were compared between two groups. Results Operative time was (122.5±25.8) min in group M and (162.9±30.9) min in Group L (P=0.01). Estimated blood loss was(55.8±36.2) ml in group M and (104.6±58.2) ml in group L (P=0.01). There were no significant differences between the two groups in intra-operative complications(4.2% vs 8.3%, P=1.00), post-operative complications (8.3% vs 16.7%,P=0.66), number of lymph node retrieval (17.4±3.2 vs 17.8±3.4, P=0.67), and hospital stay [(7.8± 2.2) d vs (8.0±3.6)d, P=0.81]. Conclusion The medial-to-lateral approach reduces operative time and blood loss in laparoscopic right hemi-colectomy as compared with the lateral-to-medial approach.