LOW ANTERIOR RESECTION VS RECTAL AMPUTATI ON FOR THE TREATMENT OF RECTAL-CANCER

In the controversy whether abdominoperineal resection or sphinctersavi ng resection is more radical for the treatment of lower rectal cancer, 77 consecutive patients with rectal cancer were retrospectively analy sed. All resections were curative. 40 patients underwent a low resecti on and 37 patients an abdominoperineal resection. Both groups were com parable with regard to age, sex and especially tumor-stage. The crude 5-year survival-rates were 52,5% in the resection group and 54,1% in t he amputation group, respectively. The patients with a carcinoma locat ed within 5-10 cm from the anal verge were of special interest. The cr ude 5-year survival-rates in these special subgroups were 61,9% for th e sphinctersaving procedure and 61,5 % for the amputation group, respe ctively. We conclude that the choice of surgical procedure does not in fluence the prognosis in rectal cancer, in particular, sphinctersaving resection does not worsen the prognosis. Therefore, whenever technica lly possible, the sphinctersaving resection should be chosen to cure r ectal cancer.