Palliative resections in the treatment of primary colorectal cancer.

Seventy-eight patients underwent palliative resections for adenocarcinoma of the colon or rectum. The operative mortality was 6.4 per cent. The high morbidity rate of 43.5 per cent, mostly attributable to errors in operative technic and sepsis, could not be related to the extent of tumor spread. In fifty-nine patients long-term follow-up revealed a mean survival time of 12.4 months and a median of 9.1 months. Thirty-eight patients (64.4 per cent) survived six months, twenty patients (33.8 per cent) one year, seven patients two years, and one patient five years. Patients with only local extension of disease had the most favorable duration of survival. Hepatic or peritoneal involvement alone did not preclude long-term survival, but with the two combined the outlook was less favorable. There is a small group of patients with extensive metastatic disease who will not benefit from resection. Otherwise, adenocarcinoma of the colon or rectum with local or distant metastases should be resected when feasible.