[Carcinomas of the transverse colon. A series of 75 cases (author's transl)]

The authors report a series of 75 cases of carcinoma of the transverse colon, involving equally the right and left halves. They rarely arose from the middle segment (10% of the series). Usually the tumour was very large affecting the serous layer with lymph node invasion. Liver metastases were frequent. 50% of patients were aged over 70 years. Theoretically, wide removal attempting to cure the disease means removing both colonic angles and the areas supplied by both the superior and inferior mesenteric arteries. But fairly often the existence of vascular variations in the transverse mesocolon permits one to restrict the extent of the resection whilst saving the basic principles of radical removal. Furthermore, in 20% the treatment was purely palliative. The operative mortality was high (25%). The five year survival, in the whole series was about 50%.