Objective To investigate the limiting effect of pelvic diameters on the technical difficulty of total mesorectal excision (TME) for rectal cancer by computed tomography pelvimetry. Methods From January 2009 to January 2011,69 patients with rectal cancer underwent TME in the Department of Proctology at the Changhai Hospital in Shanghai. There were 55 males and 14 females. Using three dimensional reconstruction software,pelvic dimen-sions of rectal cancer patients were measured based on pelvic Objective To investigate the limiting effect of pelvic diameters on the technical difficulty of total mesorectal excision (TME) for rectal cancer by computed tomography pelvimetry. Methods From January 2009 to January 2011,69 patients with rectal cancer underwent TME in the Department of Proctology at the Changhai Hospital in Shanghai. There were 55 males and 14 females. Using three dimensional reconstruction software, pelvic dimen-sions of rectal cancer patients were measured based on pelvic