Abstract:Background and Aims Single-port laparoscopic surgery may further reduce abdominal wall trauma and improve cosmetic outcomes; however, its application in low rectal cancer remains technically challenging. For patients requiring enterostomy, establishing a single-port access through the predetermined stoma site may avoid additional abdominal incisions. This study aimed to evaluate the safety, feasibility, and short-term outcomes of single-port laparoscopic surgery via the enterostomy site in patients with low rectal cancer.Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on 184 patients with low rectal cancer treated at the Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College between September 2020 and September 2023. According to the surgical approach, patients were divided into a single-port laparoscopy group (single-port group) and a conventional multi-port laparoscopy group (multi-port group). Among them, 116 patients underwent surgery via prophylactic ileostomy access (58 in each group), and 68 underwent surgery via permanent sigmoid colostomy access (34 in each group). Baseline characteristics, intraoperative outcomes, and short-term postoperative outcomes were compared between the groups.Results No significant differences were observed in baseline clinicopathologic characteristics between the two groups (all P>0.05). In both ileostomy and permanent sigmoid colostomy subgroups, operative time was significantly longer in the single-port group than in the multi-port group (all P<0.001), whereas intraoperative blood loss was comparable between the groups (all P>0.05). No significant differences were found in the number of harvested lymph nodes, time to bowel function recovery, postoperative hospital stay, postoperative complications, postoperative bleeding, in-hospital mortality, or 30 d readmission rates (all P>0.05). The single-port group demonstrated lower postoperative visual analogue scale pain scores on postoperative days 1-3 and higher patient satisfaction scores than the multi-port group (all P<0.05). The median follow-up duration was 23 months, and no severe procedure-related long-term complications were observed.Conclusion Single-port laparoscopic surgery via the predetermined enterostomy site for low rectal cancer is safe and feasible. This technique can reduce abdominal wall trauma, alleviate postoperative pain, and improve patient satisfaction while maintaining satisfactory short-term outcomes, showing promising clinical application potential.