Influence of the ligation sequence of the inferior mesenteric artery and vein on circulating tumor cells in laparoscopic rectal cancer surgery: a prospective pilot study

Table 1 The comparison of clinicopathological characteristics between the A-first and V-first groups

Clinicopathologic characteristics	A-first	V-first	P†
	n = 15	n = 14
Sex			0.356
Male	9 (60.0)	6 (42.9)
Female	6 (40.0)	8 (57.1)
Age (year)*	62.6 (8.1)	61.3 (7.1)	0.647‡
ASA score			0.292
1	15 (100.0)	13 (92.9)
2	0	1 (7.1)
BMI (kg/m²) *	39.1 (6.6)	36.8 (4.3)	0.313‡
CEA level (ng/ml) *	6.9 (7.0)	4.5 (5.2)	0.297‡
Surgery type			0.372
Low anterior resection	8 (53.3)	8 (57.1)
Low anterior resection + diverting ileostomy	5 (33.3)	2 (14.3)
Low anterior resection + diverting ileostomy + partial hepatectomy^#	1 (6.7)	0
Low anterior resection + bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy^¶	0	1 (7.1)
Abdominoperineal resection	1 (6.7)	3 (21.4)
Preservation of the left colic artery			0.474
Yes	5 (33.3)	3 (21.4)
No	10 (66.7)	11 (78.6)
Tumor size*	3.6 (1.2)	3.2 (1.1)	0.414‡
Pathologic tumor category			0.489
T1	3 (20.0)	2 (14.3)
T2	3 (20.0)	2 (14.3)
T3	9 (60.0)	8 (57.1)
T4a	0	2 (14.3)
Pathologic node category			0.196
N0	11 (73.3)	7 (50.0)
N1	4 (26.7)	7 (50.0)
AJCC 8th staging			0.645
I	5 (33.3)	4 (28.6)
II	6 (40.0)	4 (28.6)
III	4 (26.7)	6 (42.9)
Perineural invasion			0.599
No	11 (73.3)	9 (64.3)
Yes	4 (26.7)	5 (35.7)
Lympho-vascular invasion			0.184
No	12 (80.0)	8 (57.1)
Yes	3 (20.0)	6 (42.9)
Tumor differentiation			0.849
Well-moderate	6 (40.0)	7 (50.0)
Moderate	8 (53.3)	6 (42.9)
Moderate-poor	1 (6.7)	1 (71.4)
MMR status			0.292
pMMR	15 (100.0)	13 (92.9)
Not reported	0	1 (7.1)
Adjuvant chemotherapy			0.356
No	9 (60.0)	6 (42.9)
Yes	6 (40.0)	8 (57.1)
Adjuvant radiotherapy			0.782
No	10 (66.7)	10 (71.4)
Yes	5 (33.3)	4 (28.6)

Values in parentheses are percentages unless indicated otherwise; *values are mean (standard deviation). † χ2 or Fisher’s exact test, except ‡Student’s t test. V-first: vein-first; A-first: artery-first; ASA, American Society of Anesthesiology; BMI, body-mass index; AJCC, American Joint Committee on Cancer
^# The patient underwent partial hepatectomy because a gray-white nodule measuring about 0.5 cm was observed at the junction of liver segments IV and V during the operation. Both the intraoperative frozen section and the postoperative pathology indicated a bile duct adenoma
^¶ The patient underwent bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy because during the operation, large cysts were observed on both ovaries, with the right side measuring about 10 cm and the left side about 8 cm. Postoperative pathology indicated ovarian cysts

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