The results of the surgical treatment of rectal cancer

Background: Colorectal carcinoma is the most frequent malignant disease of the abdomen. Only radical surgical treatment of the patients provides cure and good prognosis. Our aim was to find out the frequency of certain surgical procedures in the therapy for rectal carcinoma and survival rate of the patients compared to the applied surgery and clinical stage of the disease. Methods: From 2006 to 2008, we included 100 rectal cancer patients in the study, 46 women and 54 men aged form 29 to 80 years. They were all surgically treated at the Oncology Institute of Vojvodina, Clinic for surgical oncology and their medical reports served as our data source. Results: We found locally advanced carcinoma T3 in 62% of patients and T2 in 24% of patients. Lymph nodes were positive in 74% of patients and distant metastases were found in 16% of diseased. Stage III was the most common (31%). The most frequently performed surgical treatment was low anterior resection of the rectum (52%) and Miles’ operation. Palliative surgery was done in 13% of patients. Survival rate after radical operations was the highest in patients with stage I of the disease (100%) and the lowest in patients with stage IV of the disease (31.25%). Conclusion: The type of surgery is of prognostic significance.