[Extensive excision of fixed cancers of the colon. A retrospective study of 44 cases]

Out of 268 resections for colonic carcinoma, 44 were extended because of an involvement to adjacent tissues or organs. Abdominal wall (14 cases), vesical dome (12 cases) and small bowel (11 cases) were most frequently resected. Post-operative mortality (15.9%) and five years survival rates (57.5%) of this radical procedures do not significantly differ compared to results after conventional procedures (15.3 and 64.3% respectively). Carcinomatous adhesions are difficult to distinguish from inflammatory ones at the time of laparotomy. They were found in 47% of the specimens only. This had a lesser prognostic significance than lymph nodes involvement. This results are in favour of extensive surgery for locally advanced tumours of the colon.