Synchronous cancer of the colon: a case for more definitive resection in colon cancer.

Carcinoma of the colon is reported to be the most common visceral cancer today in the United States, second only to cancer of the lung as a cause of cancer-related mortality. Three consecutive cases of multiple primary colon cancers-synchronous carcinoma, two of which were additionally associated with colonic polyps, prompted a review of the literature as it related to synchronous colon cancer. The incidence of this phenomenon seems to be in the range of three percent of colon cancers. These patients tend to have a higher than usual incidence of associated polyps and of metachronous colon cancer. Inasmuch as the colons of these patients have a clear proclivity to neoplastic transformation and recurrence, subtotal colectomy as the initial curative colon procedure is practiced. This diagnosis is more often made in retrospect. It would seem that subtotal colectomy should be the initial curative procedure for any cancer of the large bowel proximal to the rectum in otherwise healthy patients less than 60 years of age.