Long-term results in rectum carcinoma. Patients followed up during the period 1959-1968

During the period 1959 to 1968, a total of 158 patients with carcinoma of the rectum were treated at the surgical department of the Oncological Institute in Bratislava. All these patients were retro spectively classified according to the TNM system into four clinical stages as follows: Stage I -- 26 (16.46%). Stage II -- 12 (7.59%), Stage III -- 61 (36.61%) and Stage IV -- 59 (53.39%) of the patient. Surgical treatment was supplemented with irradiation in 85 (53.73%) of the patients with chemotherapy in 15 (9.49%). All the findings were verified histologically. Favorable results as regards the 5-year survival rate in accordance with literature data were achieved in the early stages of the affection, while in advanced stages this survival rate was rather low, the majority of the patients died in the first and second year following initiation of treatment. The authors express the view that in future, oncologists will have to devote more attention to an early diagnosis and treatment of precanceroses, and this not solely in patients with a carcinoma of the rectum, but also in its other localizations.