Sphincter-saving resection, or not, for cancer of the midrectum

background The purpose of this study was to compare the time to pelvic recurrence and survival after sphincter-saving resection (SSR) or abdominoperineal resection (APR). methods Out of the 119 patients with a cancer of the midrectum, 43 had undergone a SSR and 76 an APR for cure. To eliminate bias of a non-randomized retrospective comparison, an adjustment for baseline prognostic covariates was used. results Pelvic recurrence rates and survival distribution according to the type of resection did not differ significantly, with P values of 0.31 and 0.95, respectively, by the log-rank test. The Cox regression model incorporated nine binary covariates and the treatment group. Given these nine covariates, treatment did not influence either pelvic recurrence (adjusted P value = 0.62, relative risk = 0.78) or overall survival (adjusted P value = 0.89, relative risk = 1.05). conclusion These results suggest that, in patients with cancer of the midrectum treated by SSR or APR, recurrence and survival rates are similar.