Surgical resection remains the primary treatment for rectal cancer, but the postoperative incidence of anastomotic leakage (AL) is relatively high. AL not only increases the medical burden on patients, prolongs hospital stays, raises the need for secondary surgery, and elevates perioperative mortality, but also increases the long-term risk of local recurrence and reduces survival rates. There is an urgent need for a simple, effective treatment method that minimizes the burden on patients to prevent anastomotic leakage.
The preoperative placement of a transanal drainage tube (TDT) is believed to effectively drain gas and feces from the intestinal lumen, thereby reducing intestinal pressure and alleviating tension at the anastomotic site, thus preventing AL. Previous studies have shown that traditional drainage tubes cannot effectively prevent leakage. Given the limitations of existing research on traditional TDTs, we plan to use a modified TDT (which allows postoperative irrigation and utilizes a balloon to block feces from adversely affecting the anastomosis) to conduct a randomized, parallel-controlled trial. This study aims to further investigate the role of the modified TDT in preventing and treating anastomotic leakage following rectal surgery