A Clinical Study of Colorectal Cancer

ABSTRACT

This is a retrospective clinical analysis of 156 patient with colorectal cancer who were surgically treated from January 1988 to June 1996 at the Department of Surgery, Seoul Adventist Hospital. The results are as follows 1) The peak age incidence was in the 7th decade (31.4% of the cases), and the sex ratio of males to females was 1.03 1. 2) The most common location of the tumor was the rectum in 77 cases (49.4%); next were the sigmoid colon in 25 cases (16.0%) and the ascending colon in 25 cases (16.0%). 3) In the right colon, the most frequent symptoms and signs were abdominal pain, a palpable mass, weight loss; in the left colon and rectum, bloody tarry stool and bowel- habit change were the most common symptoms and signs. 4) The duration of the symptoms and signs prior to admission was most commonly less than 3 month (46.8% of the cases). 5) The diagnostic methods were digital rectal examination, sigmoidoscopy, colonofiberoscopy, barium enema, and abdominal CT. In two cases,an exploratory laparotomy was done. Also, 2.8 studies were done per patient. 6) The operations performed included an abdominoperineal resection in 36 cases (24.0%) and a right hemicolectomy (18.7%). The operability was 96.2%, and the total resectability was 79.5%. 7) The staging of the tumor was performed during the initial operation according to the Aster Coller classification and the TNM classification. Stages C2 (33.8%) and B2 (29.1%) and T3N0M0 were the most frequent stages in both classification. 8) The most common histologic type was an adenocarcinoma (96.8%). 9) The most common macroscopic finding was of the annular type (59.6%) 10) The most common distant metastasis sites were the pelvic organs and the liver. 11) The most frequent postoperative complication was wound infection (14.7%). The complication rate and perioperative mortality were 32.7% and 2%, respectively.