Recurrent Carcinoma of the Rectum and Rectosigmoid

Abstract
Carcinoma of the rectum and rectosigmoid may recur locally regardless of the type of surgical procedure employed.* It has long been realized that the treatment of local recurrences after combined abdominoperineal resection is largely futile.1Total excision of the malignant tissue is practically never possible, and external irradiation is of limited value even palliatively. Relatively little is known of the results of treatment of local recurrences after continence-preserving procedures, such as segmental resections and pull-through operations. On the whole, the results should be better than those of treatment of recurrences after combined abdominoperineal resections. The presence of the bowel should permit earlier recognition of the recurrence, since the region in which the recurrences develop is accessible to both digital and proctoscopic examination. The recurrence may involve only the wall of the bowel or the perirectal tissues which can be resected. Radiation therapy should be more successful also, since radium