SARCOMA OF THE RECTUM

Abstract

RECENT experience with an unusual fibrosarcoma of the rectum led us to search textbooks for additional information on the subject. The paucity of material found in standard texts led us to study the periodical literature. Here again, little in the way of a definitive plan of diagnosis and treatment could be found. This study was therefore prepared as an abstract of current writings with an effort to correlate and condense published experiences into a rational, clinical concept of the disease. This study begins with the work of J. H. Weeks, who in 1927 published the best account then available of sarcoma of the rectum. Weeks collected 100 cases from the literature but felt that only about half of these were sufficiently well documented to be acceptable. Since his report there have been many others, usually presenting one or two cases. In general, classification is poor, and it is here that