Carcinoma of the Splenic Flexure of the Colon1

The object of this paper is to present the roentgenological diagnosis of this relatively rare condition and to discuss the salient points in etiology and symptomatology, with an outline of the surgical treatment based on a review of the different methods described in the literature. The literature reviewed for the past twenty years includes statistics concerning splenic flexure carcinoma among other carcinomatous conditions of the large bowel, but very few articles deal with carcinoma of this particular locality per se. Hartwell presents an exhaustive study of this subject, based on six cases. The French surgeons, so skilled in colectomies, naturally have added much to the surgical technic. American literature for the most part deals only with statistics on this subject. The etiology is usually considered as traumatic. Carcinoma of the splenic angle is consistently one of the rarest of colon carcinomata, that of the descending colon alone being more rare. As a rule it is of a scirrhous, adenocarcinomatous...