Local control after curative surgery for cancer of the extraperitoneal rectum. Twenty years of experience.

A retrospective study was carried out in 264 patients with low rectal cancer surgically treated with curative intent from January 1975 to December 1995 to analyze the influence of stapling devices on surgical and disease outcome. Patients were classified as follows: group 1 underwent surgery from 1975 to 1980, when staplers were not employed, and group 2 from 1981 to 1995, when stapling devices were routinely used. The use of stapling devices determined a corresponding increase in low anterior resection (LAR) and a decrease in postoperative mortality. A statistically significant difference in local recurrence rate between abdominoperineal resection (APR) patients and LAR sutured cases of group 1 was observed. In T3, N+ cases local recurrence rate was comparable in APR patients and LAR cases with stapled anastomosis. Improved local control occurred in stapled group 2 patients which was independent of the distal clearance. Although APR still plays an important role in treatment of lower rectal cancer, results indicated that a similar outcome after stapled LAR can also be expected in locally advanced carcinoma of the distal rectum, if accurate excision of perirectal tissue is carried out.