Impact of lateral lymph node dissection on urogenital function and surgical outcomes following neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy and total mesorectal excision for rectal cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

The risk of sexual dysfunction was also increased.

Although a trend toward reduced local recurrence (local recurrence) and lateral local recurrence (local recurrence) was observed in the lateral lymph node dissection group, the differences were not statistically significant.

Similarly, no significant differences were observed in 5-year overall survival (OS) or disease-free survival (DFS).