Background: The completeness of the resected mesorectum is a quality metric in rectal cancer surgery and has been related to oncological outcomes. Our aim was to identify variables associated with non-complete mesorectal excision and determine any effect on overall survival.
Methods: Consecutive patients who underwent curative intent surgery for rectal adenocarcinoma (2009-2016) were identified from a prospectively-maintained institutional database. Patients were grouped according to their mesorectal grade: complete, near-complete and incomplete. Multivariate analysis was performed to identify the association between various patient, disease and surgeon-related characteristics and mesorectal grading. Log-rank tests were used to evaluate any difference in overall survival between the groups.
Results: 689 patients met inclusion criteria. Demographics and perioperative variables were comparable between the groups. On multivariate analysis, abdominoperineal resection, and involved circumferential resection margin were significantly associated with non-complete mesorectum. Finally, patients with non-complete mesorectal grading have approximately twice the hazard of death compared to those with complete mesorectal grading.
Conclusions: Several factors are associated with a non-complete mesorectal excision. Non-complete mesorectal grade is associated with decreased survival.
Keywords: Abdominoperineal resection; Complete mesorectum; Mesorectal grade; Total mesorectal excision.
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