INTRODUCTION

Presacral venous haemorrhage during rectal movement is low, but is often massive, and even fatal. Our objective is the "in vitro" determination of the results of electrocoagulation applied to a fragment of muscle on the sacral bone surface during rectal resection due to a malignant neoplasm of the rectum.

MATERIAL AND METHOD

Single-pole coagulation was applied "in vitro" with the selector at maximum power on a 2×2 cms muscle fragment, applied to the anterior side of the IV sacral vertebra until reaching boiling point. The method was used on 6 patients with bleeding of the presacral venous plexus.

RESULTS

In the "in vitro" study, boiling point was reached in 90 seconds from applying the single-pole current on the muscle fragment. Electrocoagulation was applied to a 2×2 cm rectal muscle fragment in 6 patients with presacral venous haemorrhage, using pressure on the surface of the presacral bone, with the stopping of the bleeding being achieved in all cases.

CONCLUSIONS

The use of indirect electrocoagulation on a fragment of the rectus abdominis muscle is a straightforward and highly effective technique for controlling presacral venous haemorrhage.