one central visceral compartment in the pelvis and implies the absolute necessity of tumor removal within an intact mesorectal fascia.
Key words Mesorectal vascular pattern • Stain marking • Specimen angiography • Total mesorectal excision
Materials and methodsTwelve porcine and 28 human TME specimens were studied. The oncologic data of the patients are listed in Table 1. All patients had rectal cancer and were treated by TME.