[Quality of life after rectal surgery].

During recent years, quality of life has become an increasingly important parameter in the outcome assessment of therapeutic protocols in oncology. In rectal cancer treatment, the influence of different surgical techniques on quality of life can be evaluated and compared by a variety of standardized and clinically validated instruments. As yet, sphincter-saving surgical techniques were considered to result in higher quality of life than those sacrificing the sphincter. Recent data from clinical trials indicates that stoma patients have comparable or even higher quality of life than patients of sphincter-saving surgery. However, prospective clinical trials assessing not only classic quality of life items but also unconventional parameters, i.e., patient expectations etc., are still lacking. Thus, detailed interpretation of the differences assessed by the classic quality of life scores is profoundly hampered. The realisation of such a prospective clinical trial will be a further important step to improve quality of life in patients suffering from rectal cancer by improving not only surgical techniques but also appropriate psychological patient management.