[Locoregional recurrence of adenocarcinomas of the rectum treated with irradiation combined with or without excision surgery]

[Surgical treatment of recurrent locoregional rectal cancer]

Local recurrence (LR) after curative surgery for rectal cancer occurs in 4 to 33% of cases especially if surgery is sub-optimal (without total excision of the mesorectum). In many cases, diagnosis of LR is made at a late stage because of the high rate of asymptomatic patients, 56% in the experience of the Mayo Clinic. MRI and PETscan are most effective for assessing local and general extension, with a high diagnostic accuracy. Surgical treatment alone or with radiation (preoperative and/or intraoperative) is the only curative treatment of LR with R0 resectability rates of 30% to 45%. Morbidity and mortality rates are high, especially for total exenteration and abdomino-sacral resection. After curative surgery, 5-year global survival is between 30% and 40%. Palliative resection of macroscopic residues is not recommended. Careful patient selection for curative surgery is the best way to optimize treatment in these cases.

Evidence-based Medicine in Surgical Decision Making

There are now five classic steps for analysis of diagnostic and therapeutic medical decision-making policies: (1) formulate a clear clinical question based on a particular patient's problem; (2) search the literature for relevant clinical articles; (3) evaluate the evidence for its validity and usefulness; (4) implement useful findings into clinical practice; (5) audit the validity of the process. The clinician must have the necessary skills to appraise critically the information retrieved. Rather than focusing on the discussion and conclusion sections of articles, the reader should concentrate on the review of the methods and results sections to formulate an opinion regarding the strength of evidence presented in the paper. The process is intellectually demanding and difficult to achieve. This particular step in the validation of evidence implies that each clinician must be methodologically and statistically sound, an "expert," capable of analyzing the method used in that particular publication to achieve the published result.

Local recurrence of cancer of the rectum

BACKGROUND

[corrected] Although radiotherapy or total mesorectal excision decreases the risk of local recurrence of rectal cancer, this risk remains around 10%.

METHODS

Of 80 patients having a local recurrence, 38 (48%) underwent a re-resection combined in 10 cases with resection of mestastases.

RESULTS

The incidence of asymptomatic detected recurrence was higher after anterior resection (39%) than after abdominoperineal resection (18%). Re-resection was performed more often (P <0.01) in the past 2 decades after anterior or Hartman first procedure than after abdominoperineal resection (67% versus 21%), and more often in asymptomatic patients than in symptomatic patients (71% versus 38%). The actuarial 5-year survival rate after re-resection was 20%.

CONCLUSIONS

Early detection of local recurrence, with PET scan using (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (8 cases in the present series), leads to an improved re-resection rate. In patients who did not undergo radiotherapy (all patients but 1) re-resection can be achieved safely (no postoperative mortality). The place for radiation in the treatment of rectal cancer has to be revaluated and compared with total mesorectal excision and results of re-resection for local recurrence.

[Curative treatment of local and regional rectal cancer recurrences]

How to select patients likely to benefit from reoperation? When a neoadjuvant treatment is still feasible, is it useful to perform preoperative radiation or chemoradiation? What can be expected after resection of local recurrences in terms of survival and quality of life? Does surveillance of patients operated for rectal carcinoma influence resectability of local recurrences and results? These are the main questions concerning the management of local recurrences after resection of a rectal carcinoma.