[The necessity for a stratification of patients with radically resected rectal cancer]

In contrast to the increasing incidence of rectal tumours the treatment results have reached a plateau. For their improvement it is necessary to exhaust all treatment modalities currently available. One approach might be centralized therapy at specialized hospitals (to use capacities and abilities located there) and another approach is the use of adjuvant treatments in certain patients. To secure optimal results of adjuvant treatments the patients should be stratified for some acknowledged prognostic factors.