[Surgical treatment of rectal cancer (author's transl)]

The authors report there surgical experience with rectal cancer. From 1963 to 1974, 346 patients were hospitalized, of which 359 were operated, which constitute a operatory rate of 98%. A exeresis was performed in 85% of the cases. Briefly, the authors use two types of operation : an anterior resection and an abdominoperineal amputation of the rectum with two synchronized teams--the operation of Lloyd-Davies--which constitutes an obvious progress compared to the operation of Miles. The overall postoperatory mortality remained high : 8.8% which represents 10.1% for the operation of Lloyd-Davies, and 6.7% for the anterior resection. Two hundred and twenty-four patients have been operated with a follow-up of at least 5 years; 4 [1.6%] were not reseen and are considered deceased. The overall survival at 5 years was 36.4%. The survival rate at 5 years, not corrected, of operations including an exeresis was 43.1% which represents 37.2% for the operation of Lloyd-Davies and 51.2% for the anterior resection. This survival rate includes all patients operated and not only those who survived the operation.