Abstract
In surgical patients undergoing anal sphincter-saving operation for rectal cancer the occurrence of anorectal dysfunction or dysuria was investigated by operative procedures. Subjects were 20 patients undergoing anterior resection and 6 undergoing Turnbull-Cutait's pull-through operation in a recent 5-year period.
The distance from the anal verge to the colorectal anastomosis in anterior resection cases was longer than that in pull-through operation cases. Among 20 cases of anterior resection and 6 cases of pull-through operation, 7 cases of the former and 2 cases of the latter defecated more than 4 times every day; one case of the former could not distinguish between defecation and flatus; 4 cases of the former and one case of the latter had incontinence of stool; 3 cases of the former and one case of latter had sense of remainder of stool; each one case of both needed an exative; and 5 cases of the former only had dysuria. Though the distance from the anal verge to the anastomosis in the cases with anorectal dysfunction tended to be shorter than that in the cases without anorectal dysfunction for each operative procedure, there was no significant difference in the frequency of anorectal dysfunction and dysuria between them.
