Predicting difficult laparoscopic total mesorectal excision for locally-advanced mid-low rectal cancer: The EuMaRCS score validation

Background/Aim: The European MRI and Rectal Cancer Surgery (EuMaRCS) score was proposed to identify preoperatively difficult laparoscopic total mesorectal excision (L-TME) for locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC). This study aimed to test EuMaRCS's validity. Patients and Methods: Data were retrieved from a European multicenter database, including patients with mid/low LARC, treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy and LTME with primary anastomosis. The EuMaRCS score was calculated on: BMI>30 (3 points), interspinous distance<96.4 mm (2 points), ymrT stage.T3b (4 points), and male sex (1 point). Results: The sample was composed of 141 patients, of whom 23 (16.3%) had a difficult L-TME. The EuMaRCS score demonstrated high accuracy in predicting difficult surgery (AROC: 0.806, 95%CI=0.72- 0.88), with a cut-off >3 being associated with the best balance in sensitivity (82.6%) and specificity (66.1%). Conclusion: The EuMaRCS score represents a validated tool to predict preoperatively difficult L-TME in LARC patients.