man rectal cancer trial (CAO/ ARO/AIO-94) now made public, we have a prospective randomized study that has confirmed what those treating rectal cancer have long suspected: preoperative chemoradiation provides a significant advantage over postoperative therapy in terms of pelvic control and sphincter preservation. Full-course radiation therapy with 5-fluorouracil-based chemotherapy, similar to t...

Colorectal surgery can be difficult at open and laparoscopic surgery. This is particularly the case for rectal surgery deep in the pelvis. In obese males distal rectal dissection can be challenging because of instrument and visual limitations. Robot-assisted laparoscopic colorectal operations do not differ significantly from the standard laparoscopic approach but it has certainly been shown tha...

A 66-year-old man underwent abdominoperineal resection for advanced rectal cancer. On day 3 post surgery, a decompression tube was placed for postoperative ileus. Symptoms associated with ileus immediately disappeared. On day 7 post surgery, the patient vomited large amounts of fresh blood and became hemodynamically unstable. An emergency angiography revealed active bleeding from the stump of t...

through the anal canal. Precisely how a complete rectal prolapse develops is not thoroughly understood. Possible etiologies include a defect of the pelvic floor, redundant rectosigmoid colon, deep Douglas pouch, gender (female), psychiatric problems and nulliparity. Pathogenesis may involve a sliding hernia or a circumferential intussusception. Treatment of rectal prolapse can involve a variety...

IATROGENIC ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION AFTER PELVIC SURGERY: PROSTATECTOMY, COLONIC AND RECTAL SURGERY (ABSTRACT): Radical pelvic surgery: radical prostatectomy, colonic and rectal surgery are iatrogenic causes of erectile dysfunction with major impact on healthrelated quality of life. The major cause of erectile dysfunction in such surgical procedures is cavernous nerve injury that leads to apoptosis...

This study evaluated the 4-year results of 32 patients with T1N0 low-lying rectal adenocarcinoma treated solely with californium-252 (Cf-252) neutron intracavity brachytherapy (ICBT). Patients were solicited into the study from January 2008 to June 2011. All the patients had refused surgery or surgery was contraindicated. The patients were treated with Cf-252 neutron ICBT using a novel 3.5-cm d...

Consensus does not exist on the level of arterial ligation in rectal cancer surgery. From oncologic considerations, many surgeons apply high tie arterial ligation (level of inferior mesenteric artery). Other strategies include ligation at the level of the superior rectal artery, just caudally to the origin of the left colic artery (low tie), and ligation at a level without any intraoperative de...