Randomized Controlled Trial to Evaluate High Tie Versus Low Tie of the Inferior Mesenteric Artery in Anterior Resection

The tying at a radix of the inferior mesenteric artery (IMA) is recognized as radical cure technique in a rectal cancer surgery in Japan. In one side, the preserving the left colic artery (LCA) that is the technique to maintain blood flow of proximal sigmoid colon is performed in practice. However, there is no evidence that shows effectiveness of this technique. We conducted a randomized trial that compared between high tie and low tie of the IMA in rectal anterior resection to define an appropriate portion of IMA tying.