Outcomes of sphincter-sparing surgeries in patients with rectal cancer: long-term experience of a specialized clinic

Background. In this article, we analyze a 30-year experience of treating patients with rectal cancer and outcomes of sphincter-sparing surgeries (SSS) with manual coloanal anastomosis or mechanical colorectal anastomosis combined with various therapies.

Objective: to optimize the indications for SSS considering tumor stage, treatment strategy, and overall performance status of a patient.

Materials and methods. We analyzed short-term and long-term treatment outcomes of 1,440 patients with stage T2—3N0—2M0 rectal adenocarcinoma who underwent both surgery and various neoadjuvant therapies. A total of1,038 SSS were included into the final analysis. Four hundred and eighty-one patients underwent anterior rerections (AR) with mechanical anastomosis; 557patients underwent abdominoanal resections (AAR) with manual coloanal anastomosis; of them, 289 individuals had modified abdominoanal resection.

Results. The overall frequency of postoperative complications after SSS was 24.3 %. The frequency of anastomosis leakage after AAR and AR was 9.5 % and 15 % respectively. Among patients with middle rectal cancer, there was no association between the type of surgery (AR or AAR) and the probability of relapse (p = 0.1823). In the subgroup with lower rectal cancer, patients that underwent abdominoperineal resection were more likely to have a relapse than those who underwent AAR (p = 0.042). The five-year overall survival rate reached 80 % in the group of SSS and 71 % in the group of abdominoperineal resection (p = 0.013). Year-on-year analysis of relapse-free survival after SSS demonstrated that it had significantly increased (from 63.5 % to 72.5%; p = 0.00077). The complex of rehabilitation measures in the early postoperative period after SSS ensures good functional effect in 51.5 % of cases.

Conclusions. SSS planning should be considered from the standpoint of clinical experience as well as multivariate analysis of short-term and long-term treatment outcomes. Successful outcomes can be achieved by a combination of adequate surgical techniques and conservative rehabilitation even in patients with very low rectal cancer. Such combination ensures not only good cancer outcome, but also satisfactory functional results.

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