Objective： To explore the effects of empathy nursing intervention on the treatment compliance and anxiety depression for patients with radical resection of rectal cancer. Methods： 122 patients who received radical resection of rectal cancer in our hospital between November 2013 and October 2014 were selected as the research object， which were randomly divided into a control group and an observation group， each with 61 cases. Patients in control group were given routine nursing during the perioperative period， whereas those in the observation group were given empathy nursing intervention during the perioperative period. Results： The scores of SAS and SDS in the observation group were respectively (19.06±255) and (18.32±3.41)， lower than those in the control group where the SAS was (27.24±4.27) and SDS was (28.16±487)， and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.01). The heart rate in the observation group was (78.17±2.04)beats per minute and systolic pressure was (120.46±3.74)mmHg， both lower than the control group where the heart rate was (88.35±4.50)beats per minute and systolic pressure was (136.35±2.99)mmHg， with statistically significant difference (P<0.01). SCL-90-R showed that， scores of symptoms in the observation group， including anxiety， depression， paranoid ideation， obsessive-compulsive， psychomania， phobic anxiety， were lower than the those in the control group， and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.01). The treatment compliance rate of patients in the observation group was 91.80%， higher than that in the control group， and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.01). Conclusion： Empathy nursing intervention is with significant application value in the treatment of radical resection of rectal carcinoma during perioperative period， which can alleviate the patients’ anxiety， depression as well as other negative emotions， stabilize the patient's heart rate and systolic pressure， improve