Table 1.
Patient and tumor characteristics
| Factor | Laparoscopic TME 41 cases |
TaTME 41 cases |
P value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patient characteristics | |||
| Gender, n (%) | |||
| Male | 32 (78.0) | 34 (82.9) | 0.577 |
| Female | 9 (22.0) | 7 (17.1) | |
| Age in years, mean ± SD (range) | 66.0 ± 9.2 (48–83) | 62.5 ± 10.7 (33–87) | 0.145 |
| ASA score, n (%) | |||
| I + II | 38 (92.7) | 36 (87.8) | 0.523 |
| III + IV | 3 (7.3) | 5 (12.2) | |
| BMI in kg/m², mean ± SD (range) | 26.1 ± 4.0 (19.4–36.0) | 26.7 ± 1.9 (20.9–32.3) | 0.243 |
| Neoadjuvant therapy, n (%) | |||
| No | 23 (56.1) | 23 (56.1) | 0.086 |
| RT | 5 (12.2) | 0 (0.0) | |
| Chemo | 0 (0.0) | 1 (2.4) | |
| CRT | 13 (31.7) | 15 (36.6) | |
| SCRT | 0 (0.0) | 2 (4.9) | |
| Tumor characteristics on MRI | |||
| Height from ARJ in cm, median (IQR) | 1.5 (0.0–3.0) | 2.0 (0.0–4.0) | 0.489 |
| Tumor size in mm, median (IQR) | 43.0 (37.0–55.0) | 46.5 (34.5–53.8) | 0.890 |
| Anteriorly located, n (%) | 19 (46.3) | 24 (58.5) | 0.447 |
| TNM-staging, n (%) | |||
| Stage 1 | 8 (19.5) | 9 (22.0) | 1.000 |
| Stage 2 | 16 (39.0) | 15 (36.6) | |
| Stage 3 | 13 (31.7) | 13 (31.7) | |
| Stage 4 | 4 (9.8) | 4 (9.8) | |
| CRM involvement, n (%) | 19/39 (48.7) | 19/41 (46.3) | 0.832 |
CRM involvement on MRI is defined as involved if the distance of tumor or malignant lymph node to the mesorectal fascia was ≤ 1 mm on MRI
Percentages are shown as percentages of the whole group not including missing values
SD standard deviation, IQR inter quartile range, ASA American Society of Anaesthesiologists, BMI Body Mass Index, ARJ anorectal junction