Fig. 1.

Schematic illustrations of gel injection into the pararectal space: In sagittal view (a), the injected gel pushes the rectum, the peritoneum and the bowel away from the target (thick gray arrows) while the rectosacral ligament (rsl) anchors the rectum to the sacrum. In coronal view (b), the gel injection needle inserted from the skin to the pararectal space passes through a few muscle layers. Other abbreviations: T, target; R, rectum; P, Peritoneum; Bwl, bowel; Bld, bladder; Vg, vagina; Lv, levator ani muscle.