A new technique to facilitate laparoscopic resection of low rectal tumors.

To make laparoscopic low rectal resection feasible and technically correct, an articulating stapler made for open surgery was employed during laparoscopic low rectal resection in two patients with rectal tumors whose distal margins were located at 7 and 8 cm, respectively, from the dentate line. The problem with laparoscopic linear staplers is that they do not allow transverse resection of low rectal tumors with a double-stapling technique, placing the suture line in an exactly perpendicular position to the rectum below the tumor. The use of this stapler made for open surgery allows extension of the laparoscopic approach to low-lying rectal lesions following established surgical and oncological principles.