Colon and rectal carcinoma. Forty years and 1400 cases

One thousand four hundred cases of colorectal carcinoma were treated primarily at the Wake Forest University Medical Center between 1945 and 1985. The surgical approach was constant in all patients without obvious stage IV disease: wide resection, including at least the primary-level and intermediate-level lymph nodes. There were 812 women and 588 men in the series. Sixty-eight per cent of the 1400 cancers occurred in the rectosigmoid, but only 53 per cent of the last 300 cases were in this region. Initial staging showed 560 cases (40%) of local disease, 504 cases (36%) of regional disease, and 336 cases (24%) of distant disease. Cecal, ascending, hepatic, and transverse lesions were most often associated with stage IV disease. Among the 1115 patients with long-term follow-up, 44 per cent with stage I disease, 37 per cent with stage II disease, 24 per cent with stage III disease, and 6 per cent with stage IV disease had survived for 5 years or longer. There were no differences when 5-year survival was correlated with site. This review provided no evidence that wide resection leads to increased long-term survival.