The second colorectal cancer: A retrospective analysis of the value of extended colonic resection

Abstract 1.1. A review is made of 673 patients with cancer of the colon and rectum, 412 of these whom underwent resection. In this group there were twenty-one patients with metachronous cancer, eighteen of whom had complete resection of the second tumor. 2.2. The incidence of polyps in these patients with metachronous cancer was 29 per cent for the first tumor and 39 per cent for the second, and the time interval between the first and second lesion averaged eight years. 3.3. The localization of the second lesion suggested that there is a prophylactic advantage to left hemicolectomy for left colorectal cancer and to subtotal colectomy for right-sided lesions. 4.4. However, in the majority of patients with less extensive resection for the first lesion, the second lesion was found to be curatively resectable at the second operation.