[Laser treatment of villous rectal tumors]

The treatment of villous rectal tumors with the Nd: YAG laser is characterized by its great effectiveness (almost 90% of complete eradication in our series of 100 cases), and by its great tolerance. It may be applied to all patients regardless of their condition. In case of running villous tumors, complete destruction is more difficult to obtain and the laser method must be weighed against the risks and advantages of radical surgery. The problems raised by frequent foci of adenocarcinoma, which characterize large villous lesions, is minimized by a strict therapeutic protocol: in fact, the foci are superficial in the majority of the cases and they do not decrease the percentage of complete destruction; in other cases, it is possible, by repeated histological controls, in case of persisting positive biopsies, to modify, in time, the choice of treatment.