SOME ETIOLOGIC AND PATHOLOGIC FACTORS IN CANCER OF THE LARGE BOWEL

Abstract

The object of this paper is to call attention to the frequency of occurrence and the histologic structure of supposedly benign polypoid growths originating in the large bowel and to present some evidence of their relation to cancer of the large bowel. Studies of these various factors have been made on material covering 200 resected cancers of the large bowel in over 300 patients on whom I have personally operated for that lesion and on 100 additional specimens of supposedly benign polyps of the colon and rectum. The incidence of mucous polyps of the large bowel varies considerably, depending on whether they are discovered as a result of examination of patients complaining of significant symptoms or whether their frequency is noted as a result of routine postmortem examination. Even the latter approach is not ideal unless a meticulous examination of the entire area of the large bowel is carried out,