Quality management of physicians' performance is supposed to guarantee opti
mal diagnostic and therapeutic procedures for patients. Quality control in
the scope of prospective multicenter quality securing programs are based on
the overall analysis of cases with selected tracer diagnoses. It serves as
voluntary self-regulation for surgeons who perform an evaluation of their
results in a team-based setting. Using colorectal cancer as an example, the
quality management of diagnostic issues and surgical treatment are used to
outline a treatment protocol for a surgical condition under quality securi
ng aspects. We present the treatment protocol of colorectal cancer on the b
asis of three studies from 1985/1986, 1991/1993 and 1999. We emphasize our
opinion that quality management should be addressed as an concern of the su
rgical profession, and not as an administrative problem.