LARS

I heard the term LARS used a lot on this board, but never really fully understood what it meant.  Here is an article with a "consensus definition" of the term:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ans.15421

To meet the definition of LARS a patient must have had an anterior resection (sphincter‐preserving rectal resection) and suffer from at least one of these symptoms that results in at least one of these consequences. Increased stool frequency is compared to pre‐operative stool frequency. Repeated painful stools include pain on urge, on passing a bowel motion and/or after passing a bowel motion. Emptying difficulties include difficulty emptying the bowel for any reason, a feeling that the bowel has not completely emptied after passing a bowel motion, need to return to the toilet multiple times to empty the bowel. Faecal incontinence is defined as the unintended passage of a large volume of faecal material. Faecal urgency is the need to rush to toilet to defaecate and/or inability to delay passing a bowel motion. Soiling is the involuntary passage of a small amount of material onto clothing or sanitary item.