[Simultaneous radical surgery in patients with cancer of the rectum with metastases to the liver].

From 1972 to 1987, a total of 3.033 operations were carried out for carcinoma of the rectum at the Research Institute of Proctology. Various types of resection of the liver were conducted in one stage in 51 cases. The postoperative mortality in the group of patients who underwent operation in association with resection of the liver was 5.9%, which was only slightly higher than that in the general group of patients with rectal carcinoma (4.9%) operated on in the same period of time. Among 35 patients dismissed from the clinic after removal of verified metastases of the liver 15 had been operated on more than 5 years ago. Four of them have a survival period of more than 5 years and 2 have a survival period of over 10 years. On basis of their experience, the authors claim that the performance of one-stage radical operations for rectal carcinoma with removal of solitary metastases from the liver is admissible and, most probably, expedient.