Colonic pouch confers better bowel function and similar postoperative outcomes compared to straight anastomosis for low rectal cancer

Table 1 Comparison of the baseline characteristics of the study patients

Character	Colonic pouch	Straight anastomosis	P value
Number	35	37	-
Sex, male/female	18/17	15/22	0.35
Age in yr, median (range)	58.1 (30.0-79.0)	61.3 (41.0-76.0)	0.25
BMI	23.4	23.6	0.88
Temporary stoma, n (%)	28 (80)	24 (67)	0.89
Tumor height above anal verge in cm, median (range)	3.9 (2.0-6.0)	4.9 (3.0-6.0)	< 0.05
Anastomotic height above anal verge in cm, median (range)	1.9 (1.0-4.0)	2.5 (1.0-4.0)	< 0.05
J pouch/H pouch/side-to-end anastomosis	27/2/6	-	-
TNM stage, I/II/III/IV	17/9/9/0	12/14/11/0	0.35
Distal resection margin in cm, mean ± SD	1.5 ± 0.5	1.5 ± 0.6	0.93
No. collected lymph nodes, mean ± SD	15.1 ± 4.9	14.4 ± 2.6	0.52
Proximal resection margin in cm, mean ± SD	11.6 ± 2.7	11.4 ± 2.3	0.37
Postoperative chemotherapy	16	18	0.80

BMI: Body mass index; SD: Standard deviation; TNM: Tumor-node-metastasis.