Adequate distal margin of resection for adenocarcinoma of the rectum.

There are two questions in the surgical treatment of rectal cancer: (1) How far below a palpable rectal cancer should a surgeon cut in order to avoid cutting through cancer and, (2) Given that the surgeon has not cut through cancer, could the chance of subsequent recurrent rectal cancer have been reduced if an even greater length of bowel had been removed. For mobile tumors that are not poorly differentiated the answer to the first question is far enough in order to get a right-angled clamp on below the tumor that will not slip; the answer to the second question is no.