[Survival in colorectal adenocarcinoma in Cantabria. A population-based study (1989)]

To analyse a population-based study of postoperative mortality and five-year survival in patients with colorectal adenocarcinoma and to compare the results to those of a previous survival study of 1970-1978 period.

Using the Register of Colorectal Cancer of Cantabria, with a population of 531.654 inhabitants according to the 1989 census, we studied 187 patients with primary colorectal adenocarcinoma. Patients with recurrence after previous excision and who were not residents of Cantabria were excluded. Postoperative mortality included 30-days postoperative period. Survival was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method and the log-rank test was used to compare curves of probability.

Postoperative mortality was 7.7%. Overall five-year survival was 42.4%. Specific-cancer survival was 46%. Type of surgical procedure (curative or palliative) and TNM classification showed significant differences (p < 0.05).

In Cantabria the five-years survival rate in patients with colorectal adenocarcinoma is similar to published data from other population-based studies but the survival rate did not change over the last decade.