[Rectal cancer; problem of diagnosis (author's transl)]

From 1947 to 1978 147 patients suffering from rectal cancer were seen at the Surgical Department of Medizinische Akademie Dresden: 23% stage Dukes A und 21% Dukes B, C and D at a time. 74 out of 132 patients had their malignoma in a distance of less than 12 cm from the anus and should have been diagnosed by digital palpation. But this happened only in a percentage of 34. Only 58% of the patients underwent radical surgery (abdomino-perineal amputation of the rectum), in all other cases only palliation could be achieved.