Risk Factors Analysis For Anastomotic Leakage After Total Mesorectal Excision Of Rectal Cancer

Objective To analyze the morbidity of anastomotic leakage after total mesorectal excision(TME) of rectal cancer and identify the relative risk factors for the leakage. Methods One hundred and sixty-nine patients underwent anterior resection of the rectum with TME technique from June1998 to December 2003 in the second affiliated hospotial, college of Medicine, Zhejiang University, the data were analyzed retrospectively using univariate and multivariate statistic analysis. Results Postoperative leakage rate was 12.4%(21/169). Anastomotic leakage was closely associated with age, diabetes, erythrocyte, serum total protein, distance of tumor from anal verge, level of anastomosis, infitration degree of tumor, operation time and anastomotic technique, and not with gender, body mass index, blood pressure, heamoglobin, albumin and size of tumor. Multivariate analysis showed that diabetes, erythrocyte, level of anastomosis and anastomotic technique were independent risk factors for leakage. Conclusions There were 12.4% of patients suffering from anastomotic leakage after anterior resection of the rectum with TME technique in our study. The following factors like diabetes, erythrocyte, level of anastomosis and anastomotic technique were demonstrated to be independent.