[Transanal procedure for functional bowel diseases]

[Intraoperative pitfalls and complications in defecation disorders and rectal prolapse]

BACKGROUND

No generally accepted gold standard exists for the operative therapy of rectal prolapse in its variety of manifestations. Existing evidence suggests that an individualized choice of procedure provides the best result for each single patient. Knowledge of possible pitfalls and intraoperative management of complications in frequently applied procedures are important prerequisites for reliable treatment of affected patients.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A consecutive series of 233 patients (June 2011-May 2016) with individualized choice of operative procedure in patients with rectal prolapse and rectocele based on an algorithm for a clinical treatment pathway and stapled hemorrhoidopexy were included. Intraoperative pitfalls and complications and their management (iPCM) were prospectively documented and analyzed.

RESULTS

The iPCM could be classified into three different categories: group I: iPCM was immediately noted and intraoperatively treated with no impact on the further clinical course (n = 20), group II: iPCM was successfully treated conservatively within a short time after the procedure (n = 9) and group III: iPCM required surgical revision (n = 5).

CONCLUSION

Individualized treatment of rectal prolapse and rectocele requires a broad spectrum of methods in specialized coloproctology units. A clinical treatment pathway facilitates the optimal choice of procedure. Overall the complication rates during surgical treatment of transanal rectal prolapse are low; however, available operative procedures hold specific risks and knowledge of these risks helps to avoid them. Once complications occur, measures demonstrated in this study lead to normal clinical courses in the majority of cases.

[Transtar™ operation for rectocele and obstructed defecation syndrome]

The Contour® Transtar™ operation represents a further methodological development of conventional transanal stapled rectal resection (STARR) for the treatment of obstructed defecation syndrome (ODS) and/or full thickness rectal prolapse. In contrast to the conventional STARR technique a specially designed single curved stapler is used with which the rectal wall is incised in a circular fashion and anastomosed. This results in a monoblock resection with almost unlimited extent of resection. In multicenter studies the procedure has generally been shown to be effective for treatment of ODS with intussusception and rectocele. In comparison to conventional STARR the resected tissue samples are larger and the functional effectiveness is comparable. Furthermore, data from prospective randomized trials revealed higher effectiveness in long-term follow-up. With reference to full thickness rectal prolapse, feasibility studies have been performed which showed low morbidity but long-term follow-up studies suggest a high recurrence rate of >40 %.

Short-term results after STARR versus internal Delorme for obstructed defecation: a non-randomized prospective study. Updates Surg. 2014;66:151-156. [PMID: 24430441 DOI: 10.1007/s13304-014-0247-2]

Obstructed defecation syndrome due to internal intussusception and rectocele is a common disease, and various transanal surgical techniques have been proposed. Aim of the present study was to compare the internal Delorme (ID) and the stapled transanal rectal resection (STARR) results in the treatment of patients with obstructed defecation syndrome. From September 2011 to May 2012, 23 patients were operated with STARR procedure and 12 patients with Delorme's procedure for obstructed defecation syndrome. All patients underwent preoperative assessment: clinical evaluation (Altomare ODS score, Wexner constipation scoring system), proctoscopy, defecography, anorectal manometry and endoanal ultrasonography. Surgery was proposed with: failure of medical therapy, incomplete defecation, and unsuccessful attempts with long periods spent in bathroom, defecation with digital assistance, use of enemas and defecography findings of rectoanal intussusception and rectocele. The average operative time was 28 min (range 15-65) for the STARR group and 56 min (range 28-96) for the ID group with a mean hospital stay of 2 days for both the procedures. The Wexner score significantly fell postoperatively from 17 to 4, 7 in STARR group and from 15.3 to 3.3 in the ID group. The Altomare score postoperatively fell from 18.2 to 5.5 for STARR group and from 16.5 to 5.3 for ID group. No statistically significant differences were observed between the two procedures considering the outcomes parameters and the complications. Both ID and STARR procedure seem to be effective in the treatment of ODS.