[Combined treatment of large bowel cancer]

During the years 1989 to 1994, in the Department of General Surgery we performed surgery on 800 cases of large bowel cancer. The cases comprised 412 men (51.5%) and 388 women (48.5%), aged 25 to 85, the most numerous age group ranging from 50 to 70 (60%). Radical surgery was carried out on 501 cases (62.7%) and palliative surgery on 299 cases (37.3%). In cases with histopathological evaluation pTNM-T1N0M0 or T2N0M0 we refrained from chemo- and radiotherapy. In cases of rectal cancer with advanced staging T3N1M0 or T4N2M1 we applied radiotherapy, whereas in cases of cancer localized on other parts of large bowel we had recourse to chemotherapy as combined treatment. Radiotherapy was applied irrespective of grading, whereas chemotherapy was applied in cases of cancer with grading G2 and G3. Radiative energy was used in 65 cases and chemotherapy in 120 cases. Postoperational mortality amounted to 6%. Five years survival after radical surgery achieved 57.4%. Local recurrence took place in 21% of the cases. The control group consisted of the cases subjected to surgery in the years 1984-1989 when only surgery was performed and 5-years survival after radical surgery amounted to 48% and local recurrence was found in 30% of the cases.