Synchronous primary adenocarcinomas of the colon and rectum

Abstract

In a series of 1002 cases of primary colorectal adenocarcinomas diagnosed during a 10 yr period there were 62 (6.2%) patients who had 2 or more primary colorectal adenocarcinomas. Most of the tumors were more than 5 cm away from each other: 27 carcinomas were separated by 6-10 cm, 16 were separated by 11-20 cm and 12 were separated by more than 20 cm. The incidence of synchronous carcinomas of the colon is sufficiently high to warrant a search by surgeon and endoscopist for additional tumors some distance from the initial lesions.