Pelvic Recurrence After Curative Resection for Rectal Adenocarcinoma: Impact of Surgery on Survival

Rectal cancer (RC) represents 30% of colon cancers. Despite the progress achieved in integrated chemoradiotherapy and surgical multidisciplinary treatments, the rate of local recurrence (LR) is 3.7-13%. Multivisceral resections allow many patients with pelvic recurrence to be treated in a curative manner. The purpose of this work is to assess the impact of surgery for rectal cancer patients with pelvic recurrence.

In a retrospective study from 2013 to 2018, data was collected from patients who had undergone rectal resection for adenocarcinoma. We compared perioperative data, postoperative outcomes, oncological results, and survival rates.

106 rectal cancer patients (40-87 years old) requiring surgery were included. The local recurrence rate was 15% (15 patients). LR patients requiring intervention were nine (56%) who underwent sphincter sparing surgeries, and 6 (44%) who underwent surgeries with sphincter resection. There was no statistically significant difference (p=0.416) in the 5-year overall survival rate of patients without recurrence compared to those with pelvic recurrence.

Curative surgery for local recurrence from rectal cancer is safe and feasible and should be considered in selected cases as it seems to provide acceptable surgical and oncological outcomes.