[Results of long-term follow-up after local excision for well-selected low rectal cancers]

to evaluate our results about local failure, total recurrence and survival.

twenty-one patients underwent a complete local transanal excision for low rectal cancer in our institution during an 18-year period (1985-2003). Preoperative staging included clinical, endoscopic, CT, EUSR, and histopathological findings; pathological specimens were 4 T1, 13 T2 and 4 T3 tumors. None of the T1 patients received another treatment; 6 out of 13 T2 and all of T3 cases were treated with chemoradiotherapy. None of the latter underwent radical surgery.

follow-up (median 74 months) proved 23.8% for total recurrence and 19.0% for local failure (out of all 3 T2 cases only one received chemoradiotherapy, and one T3 received adjuvant treatment). Five-year survival is 95.2%.

this experience allows us to assert that local excision is a good choice in well-selected low rectal cancer patients; for T2 tumors chemoradiotherapy is necessary; in T3 patients radical surgery must be prompt.