Colorectal Cancer Involving Adjacent Organs : When should we do more Extensive Surgery ?

Abstract

The prognosis of patients with colorectal cancer involving adjacent organs is still poor. In this study, we assessed the therapeutic benefit of surgery and factors that might help the surgeon to decide whether more extensive surgery would be beneficial or not . Between January 1989 and December 1998, 473 consecutive patients with colorectal cancer were retrospectively studied. Colorectal carcinoma involving adjacent organs was seen in 43 (9.1 %) of the 473 cases. Histological invasion was seen in 22 (51 %) of 43 patients. The maximal diameter in patients with the carcinoma involving adjacent organs was larger than that in patients without.The five-year survival time was significantly different between the patients with colorectal cancer involving adjacent organs and without. Curative operation improved the five-year survival rate of the patients with pathological invasion into other organs. Even with histological invasion into other organs, the five-year survival time of the patients without lymph node metastasis was better than that of the patients with metastasis. Our data indicated that aggressive combined resection should lead to better prognosis in selected patients.