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Purpose: Rectal mucosectomy, a technique adapted from restorative proctocolectomy, has been used to treat large rectal villous tumors. We compared morbidity, tumor control, and functional outcome following rectal mucosectomy with the results of more conventional transanal excision and piecemeal snaring and fulguration in patients with large rectal villous tumors., Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the charts of inpatients who had undergone transanal surgery for villous tumors., Results: Between 1983 and 1993, rectal mucosectomy, transanal excision, and snaring and fulguration were performed, respectively, in 12, 26, and 23 patients with large rectal villous tumors. Tumors treated by rectal mucosectomy had a larger mean diameter (8.5 cm) than those treated by transanal excision or snaring and fulguration (4.5 cm and 4.2 cm, respectively; P < 0.0001, analysis of variance). After a mean follow-up of 47 months, incidence of tumor persistence was 17 percent following rectal mucosectomy, 20 percent following transanal excision, and 40 percent following snaring and fulguration (P = 0.04, chi-squared). Tumor recurrence was 8 percent after rectal mucosectomy compared with 36 and 44 percent, respectively, after transanal excision (P = 0.09, chi-squared) and snaring and fulguration (P = 0.04, chi-squared). Clinically significant postoperative bleeding did not occur after rectal mucosectomy; 17 percent of patients had persistent mild incontinence., Conclusions: Rectal mucosectomy for villous tumors, a new application of an established technique, is safe and associated with low rates of tumor persistence and recurrence. Rectal mucosectomy may result in mild incontinence and should be reserved for large or circumferential lesions. For smaller lesions, transanal excision results are more reliable tumor eradication than snaring and fulguration.

We reviewed the treatment outcome in 40 patients undergoing full-thickness local excision (seven patients) or electrocoagulation (33 patients) for adenocarcinoma of the rectum. Patients were followed up for a minimum of 5 years or until death (mean follow-up, 7.6 years). Twenty-two patients (55%) survived 5 years free of disease or were free of disease at the time of death due to other causes following local treatment. Eight (62%) of 13 patients with persistent or locally recurrent disease were successfully treated with additional local therapy, rectal resection, or combined radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Overall, 30 (75%) of 40 patients embarking on a program of local treatment for carcinoma of the rectum survived 5 years free of disease or were free of disease at the time of death due to other causes.

Considerable evidence demonstrates that a relationship may exist between adenomatous polyps and carcinoma. While the evidence may be circumstantial, it is not unimpressive. A recently completed 18 year follow-up of patients with benign polyps initially fulgurated demonstrates a statistically significant higher incidence of the development in colorectal carcinoma in these patients than in the unaffected population.

Electrocoagulation is an effective treatment modality for localized cancer of the distal rectum. Proper selection remains the key to successful treatment. Of potentially curable patients with cancer of the rectum followed up for a median of five years, 69 per cent had no evidence of cancer at the end of the study period. Gross tumor morphology defined two distinct groups with regard to outcome after electrocoagulation. Ninety-two per cent of patients with polypoid/exophytic tumors as compared to 33 per cent of patients with ulcerative lesions had successful treatment. Based on these results, the authors believe that lesions that are exophytic represent early cancers with a low incidence of nodal spread and, as such, can be treated by electrocoagulation with confidence. As a palliative measure, the the authors found electrocoagulation to yield equivocal results.

Records of 230 patients who underwent abdominoperineal resection between 1963 and 1976 were reviewed. The median age of the patients was 62 years. The mortality rate was 1.7 per cent, and the morbidity rate was 61 per cent. One hundred eighty patients were followed for five to 13 years to identify patterns of recurrence. Ten-year survival for Dukes' A, B, and C lesions was 83 per cent, 57 per cent, and 31 per cent, respectively. Seventy-eight patients (43 per cent) had recurrent cancer; 10 per cent had local lesions, and 33 per cent had distant lesions. Dukes' B lesions had a greater latency for local recurrence than Dukes' C lesions. Dukes' A lesions with distant recurrence had a greater latency than Dukes' B or C lesions. Once recurrence was established, the survival rate was not significantly different, regardless of Dukes' stage or local or distant site. Radiation therapy for established local recurrence or chemotherapy for established distant recurrence did not seem to alter survival rates.

Carcinoma of the colon and rectum is the commonest visceral malignancy in this country today. Uncorrected five-year survival rates (1967-1971) for Dukes' A, B, and C lesions were 81 per cent, 62 per cent, and 33 per cent respectively, and are essentially the same as those observed in the previous five-year period (1962-1966). The actuarially corrected five-year survival rates for Dukes' A, B, and C lesions for the ten-year period (1962-1971) were 95 per cent, 90 per cent, and 55 per cent. Further improvement in these statistics depends on bringing the patient to operation with less advanced disease and possibly on supplementing resection with other modalities of therapy.

The records of 344 consecutive patients with colorectal cancer treated operatively at the Lahey Clinic from 1972 through 1976 were reviewed, and the effects of 41 clinical and pathologic variables on survival were analyzed. The variables associated with poorer five-year survival rates were advanced Dukes' stage, four or more positive nodes, blood vessel invasion, lymphatic invasion, circumferential involvement, and obstruction at initial presentation. As a group, patients with right colon cancers (cecum and ascending colon) had the best survival rates. When fistula formation or localized perforation had occurred, en bloc resection of locally involved adjacent viscera improved survival rates. These prognostic indicators aid in the selection of patients for wider colonic and mesenteric resections.