Local management of rectal neoplasia

The treatment of rectal neoplasia, whether benign or malignant, challenges the surgeon. The challenge in treating rectal cancer is selecting the proper approach for the appropriate patient. In a small number of rectal cancer patients local excision may be the best approach. In an attempt to achieve two goals-cure of disease with a low rate of local failure and maintenance of function and quality of life-multiple approaches can be utilized. The key to obtaining a good outcome for any one patient is balancing the competing factors that impact on these goals. Any effective treatment aimed at controlling rectal cancer in the pelvis must take into account the disease in the bowel wall itself and the disease, or potential disease, in the mesorectum. The major downside of local excision techniques is the potential of leaving untreated disease in the mesorectum. Local management techniques avoid the potential morbidity, mortality, and functional consequences of a major abdominal radical resection and are thus quite effective in achieving the maintenance of function and quality of life goal. The issue for the transanal techniques is how they fare in achieving the first goal-cure of the cancer while keeping local recurrence rates to an absolute minimum. Without removing both the rectum and the mesorectum there is no completely accurate way to determine whether a rectal cancer has moved outside the bowel wall, so any decision on local management of a rectal neoplasm is a calculated risk. For benign neoplasia, the challenge is removing the lesion without having to resort to a major abdominal procedure.