Etiopathogenetic considerations on local recurrence after excision of rectal carcinoma

A series of 77 cases of rectum carcinoma observed in a six year period, is presented. Sixty-one patients underwent radical operation and 57 of them have been regularly followed up. The incidence of local relapses has been 12.28%, with a majority of perianastomotic forms. It turned out to be proportional to the aboral distance and to primitive neoplasm staging, but not to histologic differentiation degree. Staplers were used and therefore the choice between resection or amputation was determined by the degree of loco-regional infiltration of the neoplasm. The frequency of local relapses turned out not to be related to the type of operation, but the impossibility to the exeresis of perirectal tissues involved by neoplastic process.