The Feasibility and Safety of Instruments in Transanal Total Mesorectal Excision (TaTME) for Rectal Cancer

Colorectal cancer is one of the leading deadly diseases in the world. Due to the TME (total mesorectal excision) for the last decades, the survival and relapse rate of rectal cancer patients have been considerably improved. However, anatomical limitations in pelvic space hinder the further optimization of surgical treatment Thus, the natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) emerges as an alternative surgical strategy. Of note, transanal total mesorectal excision (TaTME) , a new invention based on TME principle, NOTES conception and single port technique, has been prevailing both in West and East nations, with or without the abdominal laparoscopic assistance. Up to date, there are various kinds of instruments and patterns to complete TaTME with comparable clinical outcomes. However, flaws in each instrument remains according to the feedbacks. This study is therefore designed to clinically evaluate the feasibility and safety of the new instruments specifically for TaTME (CS-Compact, GelPoint pathway).