Rectal cancer incidence is increasing among the elderly who are more often considered for palliation rather than for surgical cure. Moreover, sphincter-sparing surgery is often avoided when treating the elderly. We report our experience on a consecutive series of 38 subjects, suffering from a lower third rectal tumour with a median distance of 5.6 cm from the anal verge (7 Dukes' A, 6 Dukes' B, 17 Dukes' C, 3 Dukes' D, 3 anastomotic recurrences and 2 large villous adenomas). All subjects were prospectively collected in a 2-year period and treated with total resection and colo-anal hand-sewn anastomosis on a J colic reservoir. 20 patients younger than 65 years and 18 over 65 years were matched for surgical complications, late morbidity, oncological and functional results but no statistical difference was found. Our hope is that a conservative approach in treating the low rectal tumours will progressively be accepted for elderly patients.