Sphincter Saving Techniques in Low Rectal Cancer Surgical Treatment: Results, Perspectives

Objective: Sphincter saving techniques in low rectal cancer represents a challenge for the surgeons in their attempt to preserve the sphincter function and also to respect the principles of oncological surgery, in order to improve the quality of the patient’s life. The paper’s aim is to compare different sphincter saving techniques in regards to the early postoperative results.
Methods: An observational, retrospective study was performed on 76 patients (N = 76) operated for low rectal cancer in the Surgical Clinic no.1 of the Targu Mures Emergency Clinical County Hospital, between January 2010 and October 2014, to whom the rectal resection was followed by a primary restorative technique for preservation of the sphincter function. The immediate postoperative results after different types of sphincter saving procedures were analyzed and compared.
Results: From the studied patients, in 41 cases (53.94%) an anterior rectal resection with low colorectal anastomosis was done („very low” Dixon procedure), for 29 patients (38.15%) a sphincter saving technique with a peranal anastomosis was performed and in 6 cases (7.89%) an intersphinteric rectal resection with coloanal anastomosis was made.
Conclusions: Sphincter saving techniques, if oncological principles are respected, represents a viable option in the treatment of low rectal cancer and brings hope for improving the quality of the patients’ life.