[Local recurrence following anterior resection of rectal cancer. CEA-titer (author's transl)]

The records of 70 patients undergoing a curative anterior resection at the Surgical Department of the Academic Teaching Hospital in Herford for carcinoma of the rectum between January 1, 1974 and December 31, 1978 were reviewed. There were 6 cases (8,5%) developing suture line and local recurrence between 9 and 16.5 months after anterior resection. In this study a rising CEA-titer was the first evidence of recurrence in only 29% of our patients. Among 9 patients with confirmed local recurrence - 6 from our own and 3 from outside - only 2 (22%) showed an increase in CEA levels above normal. In the face of the poor 5-year survival with secondary abdomino-perineal resection following anterior resection one must ask if the significance of those operative procedures with their technical difficulty is justified. Our own experience of 9 patients with secondary abdominoperineal resection for local recurrence has changed our mind for a more palliative operative procedure in such cases.