ABSTRACT
Laparoscopic radical surgery for rectal can-cer involves total mesorectal excision (TME), D 3 lymphadenectomy, and pelvic autonomic nerve preservation, the goal of which is trying to achieve completely radical cure for cancer and urogenital function preservation. In the actual operation procedure, the understanding of fascial anatomy in abdominal and pelvic cavity will help us to improve the quality of TME surgery for rectal cancer and to preserve the pelvic autonomic nerves. When entering the pelvic cavity, the identification of fascia propria of mesorectum, visceral fascia, pre-hypogastric nerve fascia, presacral fascia, ligament structures around the rectum and the Denonvilliers′ fascia in front of the rectum will help us to protect the pelvic autonomic nerves and avoid surgical injury. So the authors focus on how to identify the pelvic fascia structure clearly in laparoscopic radical resection for rectal cancer, furthermore, to master the concepts of fascia anatomy to realize TME for rectal cancer and to achieve pelvic autonomic nerve preservation.