Background: Pelvic exenteration is an ultra-radical surgical procedure described by Brunschwig in 1948, which attempts to surgically cure patients with recurrent pelvic cancer after radiotherapy. Several variants of pelvic exenteration are described that allow a more limited or extensive resection, depending on the stage of the disease. Case report: We report the case of a 54-year-old woman, who was diagnosed with a tumoral rectovaginal fistula after a recurrent cervical cancer that had been treated with a total hysterectomy with bilateral adnexectomy and a left percutaneous nephrostomy, as well as interaortocaval lymph node resection. The patient had undergone a supralevator total pelvic exenteration with pelvic and interaortocaval lymphadenectomy. The reconstruction process included right ureterostomy, left nephrostomy, and colocutaneous anal anastomosis (Parks procedure). Conclusions: Supralevator total pelvic exenteration provides hope for cure in patients with pelvic malignancies that reappear after radiotherapy. The restoration of the digestive tract and avoiding colostomy with a colocutaneous anastomosis increases the quality of life in these cases.

Objective: Sphincter saving techniques in low rectal cancer represents a challenge for the surgeons in their attempt to preserve the sphincter function and also to respect the principles of oncological surgery, in order to improve the quality of the patient’s life. The paper’s aim is to compare different sphincter saving techniques in regards to the early postoperative results. Methods: An observational, retrospective study was performed on 76 patients (N = 76) operated for low rectal cancer in the Surgical Clinic no.1 of the Targu Mures Emergency Clinical County Hospital, between January 2010 and October 2014, to whom the rectal resection was followed by a primary restorative technique for preservation of the sphincter function. The immediate postoperative results after different types of sphincter saving procedures were analyzed and compared. Results: From the studied patients, in 41 cases (53.94%) an anterior rectal resection with low colorectal anastomosis was done („very low” Dixon procedure), for 29 patients (38.15%) a sphincter saving technique with a peranal anastomosis was performed and in 6 cases (7.89%) an intersphinteric rectal resection with coloanal anastomosis was made. Conclusions: Sphincter saving techniques, if oncological principles are respected, represents a viable option in the treatment of low rectal cancer and brings hope for improving the quality of the patients’ life.