Patients with rectal cancer can have sexual life. After rectal cancer surgery, patients may have an impact on their sexual function because during the surgical radical treatment, the autonomic nerves in the abdominal cavity of patients may be affected. If the nerve is damaged, sexual dysfunction may occur, and the sexual function of patients after surgery may be affected, especially for male patients, but for female patients, it is relatively better. In the past, patients’ sexual function was not considered in surgery, but in recent years, more and more studies have shown that patients’ intra-abdominal autonomic nerves should be preserved as much as possible after rectal cancer surgery, which means that patients’ sexual function should be preserved as much as possible after surgery.