[Local excision with postoperative radiotherapy for T2 or T3 distal rectal cancer. Long-term results]. / Exérèse locale avec radiothérapie préopératoire dans les cancers T2 ou T3 du bas rectum. Résultats à long terme.

STUDY AIM: To evaluate, in a prospective study of a cohort of patients, the local recurrence rate of T2 or T3 rectal cancers treated by transanal excision after preoperative irradiation. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between 1992 and 1999, 34 patients were treated after radiotherapy by a local excision for a distal rectal carcinoma limited to (stage T2) or invading through the muscular layer (stage T3). Four patients were excluded either for palliative treatment or lost for follow-up. Thirty patients were included in the study (8 uT2, 8 uT3, 14 undetermined preirradiation stage). RESULTS: After a 74-month mean follow-up (median: 46), the 5-year local recurrence rate was 33%. Even among subgroups of patients with a significant risk factor for local recurrence (size > 40 mm, clear margin < 2 mm, uT3 stage versus uT2) there were no benefits from irradiation. CONCLUSION: Local excision of T2 or T3 rectal cancers is associated with an elevated local recurrence rate. This result is demonstrated even after adjunction of a preoperative irradiation. So, local treatment must be restricted to clearly informed patients who definitively refuse a radical intervention.