Recently, the clinical results related to rectal cancer surgery, in which Associate Professor Song Yongchun from Department of Surgical Oncology in the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University (XJTU) participated, was published in ANNALS of SURGERY. This journal focuses on surgical medicine, which is the world’s most cited surgical journal.

The article was entitled “Morbidity, Mortality, and Pathologic Outcomes of Transanal Versus Laparoscopic Total Mesorectal Excision for Rectal Cancer Short-term Outcomes from a Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial”, which mainly compared the short-term outcomes of transanal TME and transabdominal TME on rectal cancer. The findings suggest that TaTME can achieve equivalent surgical efficacy to traditional transabdominal TME, and TaTME yields a higher anus-preserving rate for low rectal cancer.

In 2017, Associate Professor Song Yongchun took the lead in performing TaTME surgery in our hospital. Until now, more than 150 cases have been completed. The success of this surgical procedure increases the anus-preserving rate for patients with low rectal cancer, improves the diagnosis and treatment levels of rectal cancer.