Exploring the perioperative outcomes of a sample of successful adopters of transanal total mesorectal excision (taTME) during the learning phase

BACKGROUND: Transanal total mesorectal excision can be a technically challenging operation to master. While many early adopters have reported adequate outcomes, others have failed to reproduce these results. There are contradicting data on oncologic outcomes during the learning phase of this technique. Thus, our objective was to perform a multicentered assessment of oncological outcomes in patients undergoing transanal total mesorectal excision during the learning phase in a sample of successful adopting centers. METHODS: Surgeons from 8 centers with experience in the management of rectal cancer were invited to participate. The initial 51 consecutive benign and malignant cases of the participating units were retrospectively reviewed, but only 366 cancer cases were included in the analysis. Procedures were divided into implementation (ie, the first 10 cases) and postimplementation (ie, case 11 on onwards) groups, and the main outcome was the incidence of local recurrence. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of local recurrence was 4.1% at a median follow-up of 35 months (interquartile range 20.3-44.2); among implementation and postimplementation groups local recurrence was 7.5% and 3.1%, respectively, and the rate of local recurrence was observed to be nearly 60% lower in the postimplementation group (hazard ratio [95% confidence interval] = 0.43 [0.26-0.72]) Total mesorectal excision specimens were complete or nearly complete in 87.7% of cases, and the circumferential and distal margins were clear in 93.2% and 92.6%, respectively CONCLUSION: Local recurrence rate was low during the learning phase of the transanal total mesorectal excision in a sample of rectal cancer surgeons with acceptable surgical and oncologic outcomes. Both the prevalence and rate of local recurrence were markedly lower in the postimplementation phase, indicating improvement as experience accumulated.