Table 4.

Surgical results for the PPS^†

Surgical results	SG1 n = 60	SG2 n = 67	p-value
Days from start of CRT to surgery	100 ± 31	119 ± 20	< 0.0001
Days from end of CRT to surgery	40 ± 8	77 ± 16	< 0.0001
Sphincter-saving surgery	46 (77%)	50 (75%)	0.8382
Ileostomy	38 (63%)	43 (64%)	1.000
R0 resection	58 (97%)	64 (96%)	1.000
Lymph nodes examined	13 ± 7	15 ± 7	0.3341
Pelvic fibrosis*	2.4 ± 1.7	4.0 ± 2.6	0.0003
Surgical technical difficulty**	4.5 ± 2.7	5.1 ± 2.7	0.2220
Estimated blood loss (ml)	263 ± 235	328 ± 117	0.1224
Operating time (minutes)	249 ± 55	314 ± 317	0.3310

^*Scale for pelvic fibrosis ranges from 1 (none) to 10 (maximal);

^**Scale for surgical difficulty ranges from 1 (easy) to 10 (difficult);

^†Per-Protocol Set as described in Figure 2. Note: Mean ± standard deviation shown.