[Radiotherapy of recurrences of adenocarcinoma of the rectum after radical surgery: Galliera Hospitals (1976-1985)].

From 1976 through 1985, 68 patients were treated with radiation therapy at Ospedali Galliera, Genoa, Italy, for recurrence of radically-operated rectal adenocarcinomas, most of them in Dukes (Astler, Coller) B2, C1, and C2 stages. The average disease-free interval between surgery and recurrence was 12 months (range 2-144) in the whole group, versus only 6 months in stage C2 patients. Pain relief was obtained in 45 patients (66%), and reduction in recurrence size in 22 (32%), with the following global results: disease progression in 16 patients, no progression/regression in 26, partial regression in 19, complete response in 3, and not evaluable in 4. Twenty-one patients had many contemporaneous distant metastases (2 cases) or within a short period of time after the locoregional recurrence (19 cases). These results lead us to believe that radiation therapy should not be employed in so many cases of radical surgery for rectal adenocarcinoma as it is today, but only in case of locoregional recurrences, as an alternative to postoperative radiotherapy, combined, if needed, with adjuvant chemotherapy.