Textbook anastomotic success in patients with low rectal cancer treated by intersphincteric resection: reappraising surgical, oncological, and functional outcomes

Previous studies on successful anastomosis after intersphincteric resection (ISR) for low rectal cancer (LRC) primarily focused on anastomotic complications rather than functional outcomes. Here, we improved the anastomotic success criteria by considering surgical, oncological, and functional outcomes and proposed a new composite outcome, “textbook anastomotic success” (TASS). This retrospective single-center study included patients with LRC treated with ISR from January 2014 to April 2020. TASS was defined as (1) no anastomotic complications occurring after ISR; (2) ileostomy was closed and there was no severe intestinal dysfunction 2 years after ISR; and (3) no local recurrence within 2 years of surgery. TASS was achieved upon meeting all indicators. We analyzed 259 patients with LRC, with 125 (48.3%) achieving TASS. Multivariate analysis showed that male sex (OR 0.47; 95% CI 0.27–0.81; p = 0.007), hypertension (OR 0.48; 95% CI 0.24–0.97; p = 0.041), ASA score ≥ 3 (OR 0.28; 95% CI 0.10–0.81; p = 0.018), pre-treatment major low anterior resection syndrome (OR 0.37; 95% CI 0.15–0.94; p = 0.037), and preoperative neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (OR 0.41; 95% CI 0.22–0.77; p = 0.006) were independent risk factors for not achieving TASS. Conversely, transverse coloplasty pouch (OR 2.13; 95% CI 1.07–4.25; p = 0.032) and higher anastomosis level (OR 1.56; 95% CI 1.05–2.30; p = 0.026) were independent protective factors for achieving TASS. The nomogram constructed to evaluate the probability of achieving TASS demonstrated good accuracy in the dataset (area under curve, 0.737). TASS provides a comprehensive quality assessment for ISR in patients with LRC. The nomogram predicting TASS may assist surgeons in decision-making for managing LRC.