Abstract: The genitourinary tract is known to be infiltrated in 3–10% of cases of advanced rectal adenocarcinoma. It is usually managed with total pelvic exenteration with urinary diversion. Complications are encountered because of this diversion. This case series aims to present four cases of locally advanced rectal adenocarcinoma involving the prostate who underwent en bloc prostatectomy in Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center. Methods: This case series consists of review of records of hospital charts, documentation of specimens from the database of the department. Results: The study consists of four (4) male patients in their 50s presenting with primary rectal adenocarcinoma with invasion to the prostate, bladder or seminal vesicle. Two out of 4 patients had shorter hospital days (6 days) while 2 patients spent 14 and 28 days. Two out of 4 patients have anastomotic leakage, 1 had nosocomial pneumonia and no one had urinary tract infection, postoperatively. All 4 patients had a histopathologic diagnosis of rectal adenocarcinoma with a tumor size of 3.5 to 7.0 cm. Two patients are positive for lymphovascular space invasion while 1 patient has a positive line of resection margin. Two patients had neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy while 1 patient had 1 adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy. One patient was lost to follow-up. Conclusion En bloc prostatectomy combined with abdominoperineal resection to treat locally advanced rectal adenocarcinoma provides good local control with the risk of having less postoperative complications. Since there is only one stoma, there is less chance of infection and better quality of life. Complete resection of the tumor can be obtain but can also cause urologic morbidity even after chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Proctectomy

Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Proctectomy ; Quality of Life ; Rectal Neoplasms/surgery* ; Rectum/surgery* ; Transanal Endoscopic Surgery

The difficulty of transanal total mesorectal excision (TME) is to find the correct dissection plane of perirectal space. As a complex new surgical procedure, the fascial anatomic landmarks of transanal approach operation are more likely to be ignored. It is often found that dissection plane is false after the secondary injury occurs during the operation, which results in the damage of pelvic autonomic nerves. Meanwhile, the mesorectum is easily damaged if the dissection plane is too close to the rectum. Thus, the safety of oncologic outcomes could be limited by difficulty achieving adequate TME quality. The promotion and development of the theory of perirectal fascial anatomy provides a new thought for researchers to design a precise approach for transanal endoscopic surgery. Transanal total mesorectal excision based on fascial anatomy offers a solution to identify the transanal anatomic landmarks precisely and achieves pelvic autonomic nerve preservation. In this paper, the authors focus on the surgical experience of transanal total mesorectal excision based on the theory of perirectal fascial anatomy, and discuss the feature of perirectal fascial anatomy dissection and technique of pelvic autonomic nerve preservation during transanal approach operation.
Autonomic Pathways/surgery* ; Humans ; Proctectomy ; Rectal Neoplasms/surgery* ; Rectum/surgery* ; Transanal Endoscopic Surgery

Transanal total mesorectal excision (taTME) is one of the hotspots in colorectal surgery in recent years. Although most studies confirm that taTME is safe and feasible, some studies still showed that the morbidity of complication and local recurrence rate of taTME were higher than traditional laparoscopic surgery. This article reviews and analyzes the short-term and long-term outcomes of taTME and the related progress of postoperative function. The results showed that there were no significant differences in the main short-term and long-term efficacy between taTME and traditional laparoscopic TME, but taTME had potential advantages in postoperative functional recovery. The results of case study after passing the learning curve suggested that taTME had better short-term and long-term efficacy. Moreover, with the maturity of taTME technology, transanal endoscopic surgery has gradually shown its advantages in the treatment of complex pelvic diseases. In the future, the application of single-port robot will further promote the development of natural orifice transluminal endoscopic colorectal surgery.
Humans ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; Proctectomy ; Rectal Neoplasms/surgery* ; Rectum/surgery* ; Transanal Endoscopic Surgery

As a novel surgical technique, taTME has developed rapidly in recent years. TaTME inevitably attracts some skepticism on safety, efficacy, and indication. First, the controversies over taTME are mainly reflected on the safety and effectiveness of taTME. On one hand, the increase of surgical complications, such as urethral injury, CO2 embolism, anastomotic leakage and pelvic infection, has raised concerns about the safety of taTME. Second, the poor quality of taTME specimens, the increased local recurrence rate and the impaired anal function after taTME, also make people question the effectiveness of taTME. Third, there are more or less controversies in the selection of taTME cases, surgical procedures and cost-effectiveness. However, it can not be denied that taTME has a promising future in view of both surgical theory and clinical practice. Furthermore, taTME is a relatively safe and effective supplementary surgical procedure, especially for patients with low rectal cancer. We should attach more importance to structured training for beginners and conduct high-quality clinical studies in the future development of taTME in China, so as to ensure the safe implementation of taTME and obtain high-level evidence-based medicine evidence, and then standardize the clinical practice of taTME.
Humans ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; Proctectomy ; Rectal Neoplasms/surgery* ; Rectum/surgery* ; Transanal Endoscopic Surgery

Objective: To compare the morbidity of perineum-related complication between biological mesh and primary closure in closing pelvic floor defects following extralevator abdominoperineal excision (ELAPE). Methods: A literature search was performed in PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Wanfang database, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, VIP database, and China Biological Medicine database for published clinical researches on perineum-related complications following ELAPE between January 2007 and August 2020. Literature inclusion criteria: (1) study subjects: patients undergoing ELAPE with rectal cancers confirmed by colonoscopy pathological biopsy or surgical pathology; (2) study types: randomized controlled studies or observational studies comparing the postoperative perineum-related complications between the two groups (primary perineal closure and reconstruction with a biological mesh) following ELAPE; (3) intervention measures: biological mesh reconstruction used as the treatment group, and primary closure used as the control group; (4) outcome measures: the included literatures should at least include one of the following postoperative perineal complications: overall perineal wound complications, perineal wound infection, perineal wound dehiscence, perineal hernia, chronic sinus, chronic perineal pain (postoperative 12-month), urinary dysfunction and sexual dysfunction. Literature exclusion criteria: (1) data published repeatedly; (2) study with incomplete or wrong original data and unable to obtain original data. Two reviewers independently performed screening, data extraction and assessment on the quality of included studies. Review Manager 5.3 software was used for meta-analysis. The mobidities of perineum-related complications, including overall perineal wound (infection, dehiscence, hernia, chronic sinus) and perineal chronic pain (postoperative 12-month), were compared between the two pelvic floor reconstruction methods. Finally, publication bias was assessed, and sensitivity analysis was used to evaluate the stability of the results. Results: A total of five studies, including two randomized controlled studies and three observational controlled studies, with 650 patients (399 cases in the biological mesh group and 251 cases in primary closure group) were finally included. Compared with primary closure, biological mesh reconstruction had significantly lower ratio of perineal hernia (RR=0.37, 95%CI: 0.21-0.64, P<0.001). No significant differences in ratios of overall perineal wound complication, perineal wound infection, perineal wound dehiscence, perineal chronic sinus and perineal chronic pain (postoperative 12-month) were found between the two groups (all P>0.05). Conclusion: Compared with primary closure, pelvic floor reconstruction following ELAPE with biological mesh has the advantage of a lower incidence of perineal hernia.
Humans ; Pelvic Floor/surgery* ; Perineum/surgery* ; Proctectomy ; Rectum/surgery* ; Surgical Mesh

Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Proctectomy ; Rectal Neoplasms/surgery* ; Rectum/surgery* ; Transanal Endoscopic Surgery

Abdomen/surgery* ; Humans ; Laparoscopy/methods* ; Pelvic Floor/surgery* ; Perineum/surgery* ; Proctectomy ; Rectal Neoplasms/surgery*

Objective: To document the anatomical structure of the area anterior to the anorectum passing through the levator hiatus between the levator ani slings bilaterally. Methods: Three male hemipelvises were examined at the Laboratory of Clinical Applied Anatomy, Fujian Medical University. (1) The anatomical assessment was performed in three ways; namely, by abdominal followed by perineal dissection, by examining serial cross-sections, and by examining median sagittal sections. (2) The series was stained with hematoxylin and eosin to enable identification of nerves, vessels, and smooth and striated muscles. Results: (1) It was found that the rectourethralis muscle is closest to the deep transverse perineal muscle where the longitudinal muscle of the rectum extends into the posteroinferior area of the membranous urethra. The communicating branches of the neurovascular bundle (NVB) were identified at the posterior edge of the rectourethralis muscle on both sides. The rectum was found to be fixed to the membranous urethra through the rectourethral muscle, contributing to the anorectal angle of the anterior rectal wall. (2) Serial cross-sections from the anal to the oral side were examined. At the level of the external anal sphincter, the longitudinal muscle of the rectum was found to extend caudally and divide into two muscle bundles on the oral side of the external anal sphincter. One of these muscle bundles angled dorsally and caudally, forming the conjoined longitudinal muscle, which was found to insert into the intersphincteric space (between the internal and external anal sphincters). The other muscle bundle angled ventrally and caudally, filling the gap between the external anal sphincter and the bulbocavernosus muscle, forming the perineal body. At the level of the superficial transverse perineal muscle, this small muscle bundle headed laterally and intertwined with the longitudinal muscle in the region of the perineal body. At the level of the rectourethralis and deep transverse perineal muscle, the external urethral sphincter was found to occupy an almost completely circular space along the membranous part of the urethra. The dorsal part of the external urethral sphincter was found to be thin at the point of attachment of the rectourethralis muscle, the ventral part of the longitudinal muscle of the rectum. We identified a venous plexus from the NVB located close to the oral and ventral side of the deep transverse perineal muscle. Many vascular branches from the NVB were found to be penetrating the longitudinal muscle and the ventral part of rectourethralis muscle at the level of the apex of the prostate. The rectourethral muscle was wrapped ventrally around the membranous urethra and apex of the prostate. The boundary between the longitudinal muscle and prostate gradually became more distinct, being located at the anterior end of the transabdominal dissection plane. (3) Histological examination showed that the dorsal part of the external urethral sphincter (striated muscle) is thin adjacent to the striated muscle fibers from the deep transverse perineal muscle and the NVB dorsally and close by. The rectourethral muscle was found to fill the space created by the internal anal sphincter, deep transverse perineal muscle, and both levator ani muscles. Many tortuous vessels and tiny nerve fibers from the NVB were identified penetrating the muscle fibers of the deep transverse perineal and rectourethral muscles. The structure of the superficial transverse perineal muscle was typical of striated muscle. These findings were reconstructed three-dimensionally. Conclusions: In intersphincteric resection or abdominoperineal resection for very low rectal cancer, the anterior dissection plane behind Denonvilliers' fascia disappears at the level of the apex of the prostate. The prostate and both NVBs should be used as landmarks during transanal dissection of the non-surgical plane. The rectourethralis muscle should be divided near the rectum side unless tumor involvement is suspected. The superficial and deep transverse perineal muscles, as well as their supplied vessels and nerve fibers from the NVB. In addition, the cutting direction should be adjusted according to the anorectal angle to minimize urethral injury.
Humans ; Male ; Rectum/surgery* ; Anal Canal/anatomy & histology* ; Rectal Neoplasms/surgery* ; Proctectomy ; Urethra/surgery*

Objective: To compare the long-term outcomes of intersphincteric (trans-internal and external) sphincter resection (ISR) and abdominoperineal proctocolectomy (APR) for low-grade rectal cancer. Methods: We used a meta-analytic approach to compare these procedures . Published reports comparing ISR and APR for low rectal cancer in Pubmed, Medline, EMBASE and Cochrane, China Knowledge Network (CNKI), China Biomedical Literature Database, and Vipers databases between January 2005 and January 2023 were searched and those meeting the eligibility criteria were selected for extraction of data for analysis. Inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) all reports comparing ISR and APR for low rectal cancer before January 2023; and (2) prospective randomized controlled studies or well-designed cohort studies. Exclusion criteria were as follows: (1) full text not available; (2) duplicate publications, missing primary outcome indicators, and unknown data; and (3) invalid statistical analysis. Results: Sixteen studies with 2498 patients were included in this study. Compared with the APR group, patients in the ISR group were relatively younger (weighted mean difference [WMD]=-1.82, 95%CI=-2.94 to -0.70, P=0.01), had tumors farther from the anal verge (WMD=0.43, 95%CI=0.18 to 0.67, P<0.01), and lower pathological T-stage (T3-4 stage: OR=0.54, 95%CI=0.36 to 0.81, P<0.01). In contrast, there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups in gender (P=0.78), body mass index (P=0.77), or pathological N stage (P=0.09). Compared with the APR group, patients in the ISR group had a lower rate of postoperative complications (OR=0.77, 95%CI=0.60 to 0.99, P=0.04), shorter hospital stay (WMD=-4.30, 95%CI=-7.07 to -1.53, P<0.01), higher 5-year overall survival (HR=0.54, 95%CI=0.33 to 0.88, P=0.01), and higher 5-year disease-free survival (HR=0.65, 95%CI=0.47 to 0.90, P<0.01). Five-year locoregional failure (HR=0.66, 95%CI=0.40 to 1.10, P=0.11) and time to surgery (WMD=-9.71, 95%CI=-41.89 to 22.47, P=0.55) did not differ significantly between the two groups. Conclusion: ISR is a safe and effective alternative to APR for early-stage low-grade rectal cancer.
Humans ; Prospective Studies ; Rectal Neoplasms/pathology* ; Rectum/surgery* ; Proctectomy ; Anal Canal/pathology* ; Treatment Outcome