Papillary adenomas of the colon and rectum: a twelve-year review

During a 12-year period, 185 patients with papillary adenomas of the colon and rectum were treated. The average age was 63 years and there was a 10 per cent female preponderance. Seventy-one per cent of the lesions occurred in the rectum and rectosigmoid, and 40 per cent of the patients had rectal bleeding. Fifty-two per cent of the lesions were malignant: however, only 9 per cent of the patients died with metastatic carcinoma. The five-year survival rate in patients with papillary adenocarcinoma was 75 per cent. The results of this review indicate that a conservative approach to the surgical management of papillary adenoma of the colon and rectum should be encouraged, unless the tumor contains or is suspected to contain invasive carcinoma.