In the surgical treatment of rectal cancer, local recurrence has a high incidence up to 40% of cases. The introduction of stapling techniques permit the execution of conservative surgery with increasing frequency, to which are wrongly associated a major rate of local recurrence. In effect in the localization of midrectal cancer, at the same stage, the abdominoperineal resection and the anterior low resection have the same long term results. Residual disease is due to no removing lymphatic perivisceral tissue (mesorectum, pelvic lymphatic cell tissue), when is respected a distal clearance from the tumour's margin of 2 cm. The authors on the base of their experience and reported data, examine pathogenetic factors responsible for local recurrence and curative surgical principles. Anterior resection remains the elective operation in midrectal cancer when it is realized with completely removal of mesorectum and with "en bloc" abdominopelvic lymphadenectomy in selected cases. In Duke's C-D stages the preservation of sphincters is always to be preferred, because abdominoperineal resection doesn't assure a curative result with a better quality of life in low anterior resection.