Systematic Reviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Oncol. Aug 24, 2025; 16(8): 107596
Published online Aug 24, 2025. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v16.i8.107596
Predictive model for sphincter preservation in lower rectal cancer
Yajnadatta Sarangi, Ashok Kumar
Yajnadatta Sarangi, Ashok Kumar, Department of Surgical Gastroenterology, Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow 226014, Uttar Pradesh, India
Author contributions: Kumar A designed the concept, revised and edited the manuscript; Sarangi Y did the literature search and wrote the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ashok Kumar, FACS, FASCRS, FRCS (Ed), Full Professor, Department of Surgical Gastroenterology, Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Raebareli Road, Lucknow 226014, Uttar Pradesh, India. doc.ashokgupta@gmail.com
Received: March 27, 2025
Revised: April 21, 2025
Accepted: June 26, 2025
Published online: August 24, 2025
Processing time: 147 Days and 0.9 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Managing lower rectal cancer is challenging due to its anatomical complexity, often resulting in the need for a permanent stoma. Sphincter preservation significantly improves patients' quality of life. It is crucial to identify key factors that influence the feasibility of sphincter-sparing surgery while ensuring favourable long-term oncological and functional outcomes. Keeping the predictive factors in mind, accurate identification of the ideal subset of patients for sphincter preservation is possible, which may obviate unnecessary sphincter sacrifice.