Editorial

A temporary stoma is commonly used following rectal cancer sur-gery because a stoma has been reported to lower the clinical leak rate and the reoperation rate [1]. The use of a temporary stoma has been increasing due to the introduction and increased use of pre-operative chemoradiotherapy (PCRT) in the era of rectal cancer surgery because PCRT was expected to facilitate sphincter preser-vation in patients with low-lying rectal cancer [2, 3]. Morbidity af-ter stoma takedown, however, is not negligible, and surgical site infection (SSI) is a very common complication; its incidence which varies widely and has been reported to be as high as 40 % [4, 5]. Al-though various methods have been employed to reduce the SSI rate, which technique for closure of a stoma would be the most ef-fective in reducing the SSI rate is still being debated. The purse-string stoma closure described by Banerjee [6] was based on the concept of leaving the wound open to provide drainage and mini