Cancer of the colon and rectum: Analysis of 300 cases

Abstract

Summary A survey of our experience with the surgical treatment of cancer of the colon in 300 patients treated during a fifteen year period ending in 1963 is presented. A curative procedure was performed in 7 per cent of the patients with a postoperative mortality of 3.5 per cent from all causes. A palliative procedure was performed in 23 per cent with a mortality of 4.4 per cent. At the completion of this fifteen year study, 52 per cent of the patients had died as a result of their disease. The longest periods of survival and the greatest number of survivors were among patients with lesions in the sigmoid, rectosigmoid, rectum, or descending colon. Fifty-seven per cent of the lesions occurred in the sigmoid, rectosigmoid, and rectum. In 14 per cent the lesion was located in the cecum. The most common cell type was adenocarcinoma. The average survival time was thirty-one months, with the longest survivals occurring in patients with lesions of the upper part of the rectum. At the end of five years, 25 per cent of the patients were living and free from their disease. The higher the lesion was in the rectum, rectosigmoid, or sigmoid, the longer was the survival period and the higher were the percentages of survivals.