Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 4, 2026
Robot-assisted Total Mesorectal Excision and Lateral Pelvic Lymph Node Dissection for Locally Advanced Middle-low Rectal Cancer
Published on: February 12, 2022
Short-term outcome of extra-levator abdominoperineal excision for rectal cancer
Sigmar Stelzner1, Gunter Hellmich, Clemens Schubert
1Department of General and Visceral Surgery, Dresden-Friedrichstadt General Hospital, Dresden, Germany. Stelzner-Si@khdf.de
Background:
Extra-levator abdominoperineal excision (ELAPE) has been introduced to avoid oncologic problems encountered with conventional abdominoperineal excision (APE) such as high rates of inadvertent bowel perforation and of positive circumferential resection margin. We compare our short-term results of this new approach with a historic patient cohort.
Patients And Methods:
From 1997 until 2010, we performed 46 consecutive conventional APE and 28 ELAPE after neoadjuvant therapy with a macroscopically complete resection in the true pelvis. Patient data was prospectively collected in our colorectal tumor database. Patient and tumor characteristics were compared as were the rates of inadvertent bowel perforation, of circumferential margin involvement, and of wound abscesses.
Results:
The rates of inadvertent bowel perforation, of circumferential margin involvement, and of wound abscesses were 15.2% vs. 0 (p = 0.04), 4.9% vs. 0 (p = 0.511), and 17.4% vs. 10.7% (p = 0.518), respectively, in the conventional APE vs. ELAPE group.
Conclusion:
With a significant reduction of the bowel perforation rate and a reduction of circumferential margin involvement and wound abscess formation, ELAPE improves important surrogate parameters for local recurrence rate and survival.
