THE HISTORY OF THE RECTAL CANCER SURGERY

In 1826, Lisfranc practiced a perineal circular incision, without opening the peritoneum. 50 years later, Verneuil and then Dolbeau and Denonvilliers practiced more extensive resections. In 1907, Lockart-Mummery described the operation that bears his name. In 1875, Kocher and Volkmann used the sacral approach that has been popularized by Kraske. Later, it became well known in the whole world and, with some little changes, it has been used in Europe by Bardenhaver, Hochenegg, Billroth, Rehn, Heinike and Rygidier and in the USA by Harrison Cripps, Edwards, Bevan and Grey Turner. Almost all of them resected the rectum and reestablished the continuity with a primary anastomosis. It seems that Volkmann practiced the combined abdominal and perineal approach for the first time in 1877, followed by Czerny and Köenning. Between 1896-1899, Quenu popularized this technique. In 1908, Ernest Miles began to use the technique and in 1914 he published the results. The resection of the posterior wall of the vagina in a rectum cancer has first been made by Hildebrant in 1879. The abdominal approach has been used by Hartmann in 1923. In 1930, Dixon together with Mayo, Waugh, Black and Judd described the “Mayo clinic operation”, meaning the resection of the rectal tumor with extraperitoneal anastomosis. They called that “anterior resection” and in 1948 they published their 20 years’ experience results and they definitely popularized the technique.