Redo surgery for failed colorectal or coloanal anastomosis: A valuable surgical challenge

Low anterior resection combined with a covering stoma in the treatment of rectal cancer reduces the risk of permanent anastomotic failure

“…Their 33 % failure rate in new handsewn coloanal anastomosis was markedly higher than the 5 % rate in new stapled colorectal anastomosis, as well. The even better results of another study on redo surgery after failed colorectal or coloanal anastomosis are not comparable with our or Levefre's results [28], because 42 % of the primary operations were performed for an indication other than rectal cancer, and the median height of the primary anastomosis was 9 cm from the anal verge [29]. Thus, since the results of redo surgery after low colorectal or coloanal anastomoses are far from encouraging, redo anastomosis should be attempted only in selected cases.…”

“…Somewhat more promising results have been published by Lefevre and his coworkers [28]. They reported a 56 % failure rate in redo coloanal anastomosis surgery.…”

Anastomotic leakage after gastrointestinal surgery: Diagnosis and management

“…A transanal pelvic drainage can be placed via the rectal stump that is left open with the advantage of radical treatment of pelvic sepsis and the AL with low operative mortality. The disadvantage is creating a difficult, more complex reconstruction procedure in a ''frozen pelvis'' with a high-risk of definitive stoma [49,50,54,55].…”

Long-term results of endoscopic balloon dilation for treatment of colorectal anastomotic stenosis

“…But those operations are associated with a considerable morbidity and mortality. Hence, major complications were reported in up to 18 % of surgical procedures performed for anastomotic strictures [11][12][13].…”