Validation of the French Version of the Low Anterior Resection Syndrome (LARS) Among Rectal Cancer Patients

Inclusion Criteria: * Age between 18 and 80 years * Rectal cancer patients undergoing curative sphincter-preserving surgery with partial or total mesorectal excision * Surgery performed between January 2007 to January 2016, with reversal of the defunctioning stoma before January 2016; * Hence all patients had had bowel continuity restored for at least 24 months Voluntarily participated in the study Exclusion Criteria: * The presence of stoma and/or known disseminated or recurrent disease * Other diseases of bowel dysfunction (Crohn's disease) * Cognition and/or language issues. Detailed description of the implemented techniques -The validation study of the French version of the LARS score is based on one hand on the face and content validities and on the other hand on the measurement of its psychometric properties in compliance with the standards published by American Educational Research Association \& al. Outcomes measures * After translation/back-translation procedures in accordance with the permission from the original authors, the LARS-F score and the whole translation process will be then sent to the original authors for approval. Then, eligible patients will receive a postal invitation to complete the LARS-F score and the l'European Organization for Research and treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QLQ-C30 and QLQ-CR29, respectively. For each item, ceiling and floor effects will be sought. * The reliability will be assessed by both internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha coefficient). * To evaluate reproducibility, a test-retest study will be performed in a randomly selected subgroup patients by comparing LARS-F scores obtained between the patient's first and second postal invitation (in an interval of 7-14 days). * The correlations between the LARS-F score and the EORTC QLQ-C30 and QLQ-CR29 domains will allow to determine convergent validity. For discriminant and divergent validities testing, we will hypothesize that the LARS score will differentiate between the bowel functions of patients with different demographic or clinical features such as sex, age, length of postoperative period, distance of the tumor from the anal verge, radiation therapy, and prior temporary stoma. * Sensitivity and specificity for minor and major LARS scores will be assessed.