Figure 2

(a) MRI of the pelvis showing the ample surrounding mesorectal tissue and fascia, in comparison to (b) which shows a CT image of the mediastinum showing how little tissue separates the oesophagus from important unresectable structures such as the aorta and heart. (c) Transverse cut sections of anterior resection specimen for rectal cancer (note how much more surrounding tissue there is compared with the oesophageal specimen) (d) Transverse cut sections of oesophageal resection specimen; this method of sectioning allows direct comparison with the pre-operative staging.