Objective To study feasibility of sheath technique with seromuscular sleeve of pedicled colon in preventing anastomotic leakage following laparoscopic anterior resection of rectal cancer.Methods The clinical data of patients who underwent laparoscopic anterior resection of rectal cancer in our hospital from January 2017 to March 2020 were retrospectively collected. According to different surgical methods, they were divided into two groups: pedicled seromuscular sleeve sheath group (referred to as sleeve sheath operation group) and traditional operation group. The intraoperative and postoperative statuses were compared between these two groups.Results In this study, 87 patients with rectal cancer were included, 37 in the sleeve sheath operation group and 50 in the traditional operation group. There were no significant differences in the baseline data such as the gender, age, body mass index (BMI), complicating disease, distance from lower tumor margin to anal verge, histological classification, neoadjuvant radio- chemotherapy, and TNM stage between the two groups (P>0.05). There were no significant differences in the volumes of intraoperative blood loss, the number of lymph node dissection, the first postoperative anal exhaust time and the hospitalization expense between the two groups (P>0.05). Compared with the traditional operation group, the operative time of the sleeve sheath operation group was longer (P<0.05), the postoperative hospitalization time of the sleeve sheath operation group was shorter (P<0.05). The incidence of postoperative anastomotic leakage in the sleeve sheath operation group and the traditional group were 0.0% (0/37) and 12.0% (6/50), respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in the anastomotic stenosis, the lymphatic fistula and the incision infection between the two groups (P>0.05). All patients were followed-up for 6 to 36 months, with a median time of 21 months. No recurrence or death occurred.Conclusion The sheath technique with seromuscular sleeve of pedicled colon can increase the anti tension ability of anastomotic stoma and reduce the incidence of anastomotic leakage, which is a safe and effective surgical method.

Citation： GUO Biao, LI Xiangguo, HU Minggao. Application study of sheath technique with seromuscular sleeve of pedicled colon in preventing anastomotic leakage following laparoscopic anterior resection of rectal cancer. CHINESE JOURNAL OF BASES AND CLINICS IN GENERAL SURGERY, 2021, 28(9): 1182-1187. doi: 10.7507/1007-9424.202012102 Copy