Background: Surgical resection of cancer ano-rectum and rectum may have several functional disorders because of the anatomical relation between the rectum and pelvic nerve and urinary bladder. The major part of the rectum responsible for continence is the anorectal ring. The gold standard treatment for localized distal sigmoid cancer and/or rectal is total mesorectal excision (TME) with anterior resection (LAR). However, frequent bowel movement, urgency, fecal incontinence and emptying difficulties are frequently happened after low anterior resection (LAR) with anastomosis.
Aim of the study: The aim of this study is to declare the incidence of functional disorder after rectal and anorectal cancer resections.
Methodology: This study is a partially retrospective and prospective cohort study and was conducted at surgical oncology department of South Egypt Cancer Institute, Assiut University in the time period between January 2016 and December 2019. Patients with cancer rectum and cancer anorectum patients underwent surgery were included in the study (227 patients).
Results: This study included 227 patients, 127(55.9%) males and 100(44.1%) females table (1), giving female to male ratio 1:1.27. The patients' ages range between (18 and 86 years) with median age of 52 years. Most of our cases underwent ARD (64%), with about 13% underwent Low ARD, while about 9.5% underwent intersphincteric ULAR and 11% underwent APR and only 6 patients underwent PPE. Conclusion: Postoperative functional complications are very common following pelvic surgery. Long-term complications such as bladder dysfunction, sexual dysfunction, and low anterior rectal syndrome are common, but often overlooked when discussing postoperative complications in the literature and often neglected to be discussed with patients in the preoperative setting.