Obstructing left-sided colon carcinoma. Appraisal of surgical options.

This study is a retrospective analysis over a 10-year period of 37 patients who presented with a large bowel obstruction secondary to a left-sided colon cancer. Our patients were confined to those with clinical evidence of acute obstruction with lesions located from the mid-transverse colon to the rectum. Thirty-eight per cent of these lesions occurred at the sigmoid level. We found 70 per cent of these lesions were treated with resection at their initial operation. Eighty-one per cent of all lesions were classified as Duke's C or D. There was a 33 per cent 5-year survival. These patients were evaluated for their initial surgical therapy and subsequent mortality and morbidity.