Oncological Impact of the Level of Inferior Mesenteric Artery Ligation in Low Rectal Cancer Surgery

This study aimed to evaluate the clinical impact of the level of inferior mesenteric artery (IMA) ligation in patients with advanced low rectal cancer.

All enrolled patients (n=350) underwent curative resection of rectal cancer with D3 lymph node dissection, with either IMA (high-tie) or superior rectal artery (SRA) (low-tie) ligation.

There were 27 and 65 patients in the high-tie and low-tie groups, respectively. There was no significant difference in the postoperative complication rate. Postoperative anastomotic leakage developed in five patients in the low-tie group and none in the high-tie group. The overall recurrence rates were 37.0% (n=10) and 40.0% (n=26) in the high-tie and low-tie groups, respectively, with no significant difference between the two groups (p=0.748). Local recurrences and lymph node metastases developed in five and no patients in the high-tie group and in 13 and one patient in the low-tie group, respectively. In the multivariate analysis, pathological T4 and pathological N2 and N3 were independent poor prognostic factors for overall survival (OS), whereas left colic artery (LCA) preservation was not significant.

No significant difference in oncological outcomes was observed in advanced low rectal cancer surgery with respect to the level of the IMA ligation. Thus, the less complicated high-tie procedure should be adopted as a standard procedure.