ALB and diabetes mellitus: After matching, all variables (i.e., age, gender, BMI, preoperative serum albumin level, smoking within a year, preoperative ileus, diabetes mellitus, American Society of Anaesthesiologists physical condition score, coronary artery disease, neoadjuvant therapy, treatment modality, distance between tumor and anal verge, diverting stoma, air leak test, and transanal tube) were balanced between the two groups; there were 56 rectal cancer patients in each group.