In the framework of postgraduate Coloproctology for 2009, two graduate students conducted the second year as principal surgeons, 129 major surgeries, always assisted effectively by one or two tutors. All surgeries were performed on public patients in Santa Casa de Belo Horizonte, with absolute presence of members of the Grupo de Coloproctologia da Santa Casa de Belo Horizonte e Faculdade de Ciências Médicas de Minas Gerais (GCP-CBHS-FCMMG). A retrospective analysis of 74 medical records of patients from the Brazilian National Health System, resected of colorectal cancer by Resident R2, supervised and assisted by mentors, could get into the following conclusions: the average age of patients was 57.2, and the sixth and seventh decades accounted for 51.4% of the patients. The rectal cancer was predominant in women (54.1%). The most common sites of tumors were in the sigmoid (31.1%), rectum (24.3%), and cecum (17.6%). The most commonly performed procedures were retossigmoidectomy with colorectal anastomosis (36.6%) and right hemicolectomy with ileo-transverse anastomosis (21.7%). The anatomical characteristics of the tumors based on TNM classification findings were: T3 (62.1%), N0 (59.5%), and M0 (77.0%) (p<0.05). The average number of lymph nodes found in surgical specimens was 10.4. Sixty-three anastomoses (85.1%) were carried out, being 38 (60.3%) mechanical and 25, manual (39.7%). There were 14 comorbidities (18.9%), the cachexia having more prominence (eight cases). The rate of surgical complications was 12.2% (nine cases), and the surgeries that have caused more complications were total colectomy with ileo-rectal anastomosis (40.0%), and double stapled abdominal retossigmoidectomy (20%). The most common complications were anastomotic fistula (five cases). Complications (nine) were more caused by comorbidities (seven) than by the surgical procedure (two). The surgeries that required less time were: laparotomy with ileostomy (average of 75 minutes) and with colostomy (average of 95 minutes), and the longest times were occupied by total proctocolectomy with definite ileostomy (240 minutes) and left hemicolectomy with transverse-rectal anastomosis (240 minutes), with an average length of 160 minutes. The smaller specimens were those resulting from Hartmann's procedure (29 cm) and retossigmoidectomy (32 cm); and the most extensive specimens were of total colectomy with ileorectal anastomosis (120 cm) and total proctocolectomy with terminal ileostomy (150 cm), with the mean at 34.5. There were 12 deaths (16.2%), two of which directly related to surgery and the other related to clinical complications and comorbities.
