Abstract:Objective To establish a predictive model for failure of natural orifice specimen extraction (NOSE) during three-port laparoscopic anterior resection for rectal cancer.Methods A total of 123 patients with rectal cancer undergoing three-port laparoscopic anterior resection at Suzhou Municipal Hospital between March 2021 and March 2023 were enrolled. Patients were divided into a successful group (n = 39) and a failed group (n = 84) based on NOSE outcome. Clinical data were compared between groups, followed by multivariable logistic regression analysis to construct predictive models and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves.Results The failure group exhibited significantly higher prevalence of body mass index >25 kg/m2, tumour obstruction rate, tumour distance from anal margin >5 cm, tumour maximum diameter >5 cm, specimen diameter/ anal canal diameter >0.8 cm, and rectal mesenteric fat thickness >3 cm were higher in the failure group than in the success group (P <0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that tumour obstruction [O^R = 8.442 (95% CI: 0.007, 1.800), tumour distance from anal margin >5 cm [O^R = 6.965 (95% CI: 0.003, 1.937) ], tumour maximum diameter >5 cm [O^R = 4.681 (95% CI: 0.005, 1.583) ], specimen diameter/ anal canal diameter >0.8 cm [O^R = 5.064 (95% CI: 0.003, 1.721) ], mesenteric fat thickness >3 cm [O^R = 4.524 (95% CI: 0.005, 1.562) ] were all risk factors for NOSE failure during three-port laparoscopic anterior resection for rectal cancer (P < 0.05). ROC curve results indicated that the combined use of tumour obstruction, tumour distance from anal margin >5 cm, tumour maximum diameter >5 cm, specimen diameter/ anal canal diameter >0.8, and mesenteric fat thickness >3 cm yielded an AUC of 0.825, sensitivity of 89.3% (95% CI: 0.806, 0.950), and specificity of 64.1% (95% CI: 0.472, 0.788).Conclusion Tumour obstruction, tumour distance from anal margin >5 cm, tumour maximum diameter >5 cm, specimen diameter/anal canal diameter >0.8, and rectal mesenteric fat thickness >3 cm constitute risk factors for NOSE failure during three-port laparoscopic anterior rectal resection for rectal cancer, demonstrating favourable combined predictive efficacy.