[Long-term survival after non-curative therapy of colorectal carcinomas]

In a total of 1073 unradically resected patients (R1/R2) surprisingly we found a group of 31 with a more than 5-year-survival and seven patients living more than 10 years. The prognosis in patients presenting rectal carcinoma was significantly better compared to colon cancer, with a 5-year-survival of 5 +/- 2% compared to 1 +/- 1%. For a long local control of tumor growth in the residual tumor patients, the possibility of irradiation probably in combination with chemotherapy seems to explain these data; but half of our longterm survivors had no additional therapy. The influence of tumorbiological and immunological factors in such patients are of further interest.