[Cancers of the rectum and colon in the Côte-d'Or department: treatment, prognosis].

The population based registry of digestive cancers in the french county of Côte-d'Or enables a study of the treatment and prognosis of colorectal cancers. During 1976-1981, 587 rectal cancers and 717 colon cancers were diagnosed. Curative resection was performed in 61 p. 100 of rectal and colon cancers. Operative mortality after curative resection was 9.7 p. 100 for rectal cancers and 13.1 p. 100 for colon cancers. The overall 5 year observed survival rate was 26.5 p. 100 for rectal cancers and 29.8 p. 100 for colon cancers. After curative surgery, 5 year corrected survival rates was 57.2 p. 100 for rectal cancers and 66.9 p. 100 for colon cancers. Five year survival rate was related to the topography of the cancer (it was lower for caecal cancers), to the macroscopic type of growth (it was higher for exophytic carcinomas than for infiltrative carcinomas) and to the size (it was higher for tumors less than 3 cm than for larger tumors). The major determinant of the survival was the pathological stage of the tumor. Patients with Dukes' A lesions at the time of curative surgery had almost the same life expectancy as persons without rectum or colon cancer. These data suggest that a substantial improvement in prognosis might result from earlier diagnosis of the disease. This commands modifications in the policy of detection of colorectal cancers.