@article {de{\textquoteright}ANGELIS2079, author = {NICOLA de{\textquoteright}ANGELIS and ALEIX MART{\'I}NEZ-P{\'E}REZ and GIULIO CESARE VITALI and FREDERIC PIGNEUR and ALAIN LUCIANI and FRANCESCO BRUNETTI and MIQUEL KRAFT and EVA MART{\'I}-MART{\'I}NEZ and PAOLO MORONI and ELOY ESPIN and FREDERIC RIS and SALVATORE PUCCIARELLI and On behalf of the EuMaRCS Study Group}, title = {Predicting Difficult Laparoscopic Total Mesorectal Excision for Locally-advanced Mid-low Rectal Cancer: The EuMaRCS Score Validation}, volume = {40}, number = {4}, pages = {2079--2087}, year = {2020}, doi = {10.21873/anticanres.14166}, publisher = {International Institute of Anticancer Research}, abstract = {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{\textquoteright}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 L-TME 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.}, issn = {0250-7005}, URL = {https://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/40/4/2079}, eprint = {https://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/40/4/2079.full.pdf}, journal = {Anticancer Research} }