Preoperative chemoradiotherapy and colonic J-pouch anal anastomosis for lower rectal cancer

We performed colonic J-pouch anal anastomosis in 61 patients with rectal cancer located <4 cm from the anal verge. Surgical and oncological results were evaluated in multimodality therapy for advanced rectal cancer. According to Wexner's score, 7% of patients were fully continent, 71% had acceptable function with minor continence problems, and 22% were incontinent. No patients required intermittent self-catheterization during follow-up. After a median follow-up of 49 months, there was only 1 case of local recurrence after surgery. Our surgical approach irrespective of internal sphincter resection produces satisfactory functional and oncological results in multimodality therapy using preoperative chemoradiotherapy for lower rectal cancer. (author)