Abstract: Objective To explore the effect of different genders on intestinal function in patients with rectal cancer after laparoscopic surgery.Methods The clinical and pathological data of patients who underwent laparoscopic anterior resection for rectal cancer in Tongji Hospital Affiliated to Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture Central Hospital  from January 1,2012 to December 31,2020 were collected.The Chinese version of low anterior resection syndrome (LARS) questionnaire was used to evaluate the intestinal function of patients at 12 months after intestinal continuity recovery.Patients were grouped according to gender and the two groups were propensity-score matched using spss27.0 software at 1∶1 ratio with matching variables including age at surgery,distance from anastomosis to anal verge ,neoadjuvant therapy,length of removed bowel,ASA (American Society of Anesthesiologists classification),tumor staging,tumor diameter,history of preventive stoma,BMI (body mass index),hypertension,diabetes mellitus,TME (total mesorectal excision) /PME (partial mesorectal excision).Univariate binary Logistic regression was used to analyze the effect of gender on intestinal function of patients.ResultsAfter matching,a total of 1 278 eligible patients from the two centers were included in the study,1 124 from Tongji Hospital and 154 from Enshi Central Hospital.There were 639 males and 639 females,respectively.There was no significant difference in intestinal function between the two groups (OR:1.014;95%CI:0.803-1.281;P=0.905).Conclusion There is no significant correlation between male and female regarding low anterior resection syndrome after laparoscopic rectal cancer surgery.

Key words: low anterior resection syndrome, rectal cancer, laparoscopy, gender, propensity score matching