Villous adenomas of the colon and rectum

Our thirteen year experience with villous adenomas of the colon and rectum, embracing 264 patients, is reported. The average age of patients was sixty-two years with an almost equal sex distribution. Seventy-two per cent of the lesions occurred in the rectum and rectosigmoid and the most frequent symptoms were rectal bleeding and diarrhea. A positive correlation between size of adenoma and incidence of malignancy was noted. Although 55 per cent of the lesions were malignant, only 22 per cent harbored invasive carcinoma and only 10 per cent of the deaths were due to metastatic carcinoma. It is concluded that in the absence of invasive carcinoma, the clinical behavior of this tumor is relatively benign and a more conservative approach to the surgical management of this neoplasm should be encouraged.