[Failure in the treatment of carcinoma of the colon and rectum in connection with the operative technique (author's transl)].

Colonic and rectal anastomoses are more subject to leakage than anastomoses in other parts of the gastrointestinal tract. The mortality is high. Many aetiologic factors are connected with the operative technique. The great role of collagenase in the colon which increases during an infection is a cause for an anastomotic break-down.