[Sexual disorders following abdominoperineal resection of the rectum]

The authors analyse the results of a survey of 450 patients who had undergone abdominoperineal resection. 142 replies were exploitable. After recalling the analytical criteria, they specify the incidence of sexual dysfunctions by sex and causal disease. The comparison of the results with those of other series leads to certain conclusions which will be better appreciated after a brief recapitulation of the pelvic nerve supply and the physiology of the sex function. The frequency of these disorders and their effect on the psychological and affective balance of the patient should prompt surgeons to question their patients preoperatively about their sexual lives, and to give preference, for this and other reasons, to anterior resection whenever this is possible and carcinologically sound.