TransAnal Total Mesorectal Excision (TaTME) in Peru: Case series

Describe and demonstrate the feasibility and safety of TaTME in short term outcomes in the Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas (INEN) in Peru.

Case series with retrospective and prospective data collection of patients with middle and inferior rectal cancer who underwent TaTME between January 2015 and March 2020. Patients and tumor characteristics, operative details, postoperative complications and pathological results were analyzed.

Nineteen patients were included. The median age was 56 years old (range 40-69). Ten were female. The median distance from the anal verge was 4 cm (range 3-6) and 17 cases were located in the inferior rectum. Eleven patients with clinical stage III. Thirteen (68.4%) patients received neoadjuvant treatment. There was no conversion to open surgery reported. Ten (52.6%) cases had intersphincteric resection and 18 (94.7%) had primary coloanal anastomosis, 13 (72.2%) of them with hand-sewn. All patients had a diversion with ileostomy. The median operative time was 330 min (range 270-480). Median postoperative hospital stay of 5 days (range 3-18). The overall rate of postoperative complication was 21.1%, two cases (10.5%) had anastomotic leakage and mortality was present in one (5.3%) patient. 94.5% had an optimal TME specimen, only one case (5.3%) had positive circumferential resection margin and positive distal margin. The median tumor size in the specimen was 4 cm (range 2-11) and nine (47.4%) patients had ypT3 on pathology.

TaTME is a safe and feasible technique with good pathological results.