Anorectal surgery

In a general surgical department, anorectal surgery makes up a varying percentage of surgeries. A substantial amount of surgical knowledge is needed since the range of anorectal surgery is broad, ranging from procedures for haemorrhoids to intersphincteric excision for low rectal cancer.

Anal incontinence is both a sign that reconstructive surgery is necessary and a well-known side effect of anorectal surgery. It is frequently useful from the surgeon’s perspective to compare function before and after surgery. Evaluation of the clinical response to a particular surgical technique, however, suffices in many circumstances.

The standard scenario is a rectal cancer patient who has successfully had surgery to insert a protective ileostomy, received radiochemotherapy as part of their treatment, and now wants to remove the ileostomy. Which diagnostic tests ought to be performed on this patient before ileostomy removal? This paper’s main objective is to provide an overview of the fundamental diagnostic procedures used both before and after anorectal surgery.