Rectal cancer surgery in a district general hospital: Controlled follow-upstudy

Local recurrence after curative surgery of rectal cancer indicates failure of the initial treatment. In recent years reported local recurrence rates h ave steadily decreased. In this study 364 patients treated for rectal cance r were analyzed retrospectively to determine if it is still justified to tr eat this disease in small nonspecialized hospitals. An overall local recurr ence rate of 9.7% was found for all operation methods used. Local recurrenc e rates were 11.6% for patients treated by low anterior resection, 8.4% for the patients who sustained an amputation of the rectum, and 7.1% for the p atients treated by transanal tumor resection. None of the patients in whom we performed a total mesorectal excision has developed local recurrent dise ase during the observation period. Careful surgical technique and close fol low-up of the patients being prerequisites, the results of this study justi fy continuing to treat rectal cancer in nonspecialized centers.