Abdominal rectopexy — open

Abdominal prolapse repairs were first described at the turn of the twentieth century.¹ Pemberton and Stalker advocated anterior sigmoid fixation following posterior rectal mobilization in 1939.² Direct suture fixation of the mobilized rectum to the sacrum was first described by Cutait in 1959.³ Numerous rectal fixation procedures have since been described, with and without foreign material, all of which emphasize the importance of adequate rectal mobilization. In 1969, Frykman and Goldberg combined rectal mobilization with both suture rectopexy and sigmoid resection for the treatment of rectal prolapse.⁴ This forms the basis of the operation described in this chapter.