Objective: To evaluate the clinical efficacy of discriminative Chinese herbs combined with levator ani muscle training in improving diarrhea-type defecation habit changes and other complications after Dixon surgery for rectal cancer.
Methods: 200 patients with Dixon surgery for rectal cancer who were hospitalized in the Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery of Suining Central Hospital from June 2021 to December 2022 were selected, and all patients were divided into 100 cases each in the control and experimental groups by the random number table method. The control group was taken Live Combined Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus Tablets and Montmorillonite Powder orally after surgery, and the experimental group was treated by discriminative Chinese herbs combined with levator ani muscle training after surgery. Both groups adhered to treatment until 3 months postoperatively. The anal rectal pressure was assessed in both groups at 3 months postoperatively, the anal function and European Organization for Research and Treatment of cancer quality of life questionnaire-colorectal cancer 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) score before and after treatment were compared between the two groups and the incidence of other perianal complications at 3 months postoperatively was counted.
Results: After treatment, the anal canal rest pressure (ARP) in the experimental group (50.80±7.80) mmHg was higher than that in the control group (46.64±7.92) mmHg (P < .05), and the anal canal maximum contraction pressure (AMCP) in the experimental group (89.81±19.39) mmHg was higher than that in the control group (72.02±17.27) mmHg (P < .05). Before treatment, there were 0, 14, 34, 34 and 52 persons with excellent, good, general and poor anal function in the control group and 0, 17, 28 and 55 persons in the experimental group, respectively, after treatment, there were 3, 36, 50, and 11 persons with excellent, good, general and poor anal function in the control group and 12, 44, 42 and 2 persons in the experimental group, respectively, after treatment, the anal function grade improved in both groups, and the experimental group was better than the control group (P < .05). After treatment, the functional modules and overall health scores of the EORTC QLQ-C30 scale increased in both groups compared with those before treatment, and the experimental group was higher than the control group (P < .05), after treatment, the frequency of symptom modules in the experimental group was lower than that before treatment and lower than that in the control group after treatment (P < .05). Within 3 months after surgery, the total incidence of other perianal complications in the control group was 16.00% (16/100), which was higher than the total incidence of other perianal complications in the experimental group 7.00% (7/100) (P < .05).
Conclusion: The treatment of diarrhea-type defecation habit changes after Dixon surgery for rectal cancer with discriminative Chinese herbs combined with levator ani muscle training is effective in enhancing patients' anal function, relieving diarrhea symptoms, improving survival quality and reducing the risk of other perianal complications.