Copyright
©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Jul 15, 2015; 7(7): 55-70
Published online Jul 15, 2015. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v7.i7.55
Published online Jul 15, 2015. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v7.i7.55
Low rectal cancer: Sphincter preserving techniques-selection of patients, techniques and outcomes
Nikoletta Dimitriou, Othon Michail, Dimitrios Moris, John Griniatsos, 1st Department of Surgery, University of Athens, Medical School, Laiko Hospital, 11527 Athens, Greece
Author contributions: Dimitriou N and Griniatsos J designed the study; Michail O and Moris D analyzed the data, drafted the manuscript; Dimitriou N wrote the paper; and Griniatsos J corrected the manuscript and made the final approval.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors have no conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: John Griniatsos, Associate Professor of Surgery, 1st Department of Surgery, University of Athens, Medical School, Laiko Hospital, 17 Agiou Thoma Street, 11527 Athens, Greece. johngriniatsos@yahoo.com
Telephone: +30-210-7456855 Fax: +30-213-2061766
Received: January 28, 2015
Peer-review started: February 1, 2015
First decision: March 6, 2015
Revised: March 28, 2015
Accepted: May 26, 2015
Article in press: May 27, 2015
Published online: July 15, 2015
Peer-review started: February 1, 2015
First decision: March 6, 2015
Revised: March 28, 2015
Accepted: May 26, 2015
Article in press: May 27, 2015
Published online: July 15, 2015
Core Tip
Core tip: The present review presents the most recent advances in the field of sphincter preserving surgery for the treatment of low rectal cancer patients, providing indications, patients’ selection, surgical techniques, multimodality approaches, postoperative course and oncological and functional outcomes. In particular, the review focuses on data deriving from prospective studies, systematic reviews and meta-analyses. The conclusion makes clear that a customized approach based on current guidelines, as well as specific pathological prognostic factors, is mandatory for obtaining the maximum favorable outcome in each patient.