LOCALIZED COLORECTAL CANCER (R GLYNNE-JONES, SECTION EDITOR) What Are the Best Questionnaires To Capture Anorectal Function After Surgery in Rectal Cancer?

# The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract With enhanced surgical techniques and neoadju-vant therapy in rectal cancer, survivorship issues are at the forefront of clinical practice and research. More and more patients are living with altered bowel habits following rectal cancer surgery. Sound assessment of anorectal function after rectal cancer surgery is the foundation for the continuing effort to explore the adverse effects of such surgery on bowel function, as well as for working towards reducing these ef-fects. The quality of the assessment is predominantly deter-mined by the instrument administered. This article reviews various questionnaires for capturing anorectal function after surgery in rectal cancer, discussing their attributes and suit-ability for different evaluation contexts. Keywords Rectal cancer. Rectal cancer surgery. Anorectal function. Anorectal dysfunction. Bowel dysfunction. Low anterior resection syndrome. Anterior resection syndrome. Functional outcome. Sphincter-preserving surgery. Low anterior resection. Questionnaire. Scoring system. Instrument. Tool. Assessment.Measurement. Evaluatio