RESUMO
Forty patients with carcinoma of the rectum and/or anal canal were treated between November 1986 and December 1990 by abdomino-perineal resection and postoperative irradiation. Omentoplasty was performed to fill the pelvic cavity and keep the small intestine out of the field of irradiation. Perineal wound healing by primary intention occurred in 92% by 15 days. Patients were followed up by barium meal follow through 1, 3 and 6 months after surgery. 85% of patients had the intestine outside the pelvic cavity and 92% showed free mobility. All patients tolerated well radiotherapy; 7.5% had grade I and II transient subacute enteritis and one patient 2.5% had chronic ileitis. Omentoplasty proved valuable in minimizing postoperative surgical complications and post-irradiation radiation injury to the small intestine