METACHRONOUS COLORECTAL CANCER

Abstract

Sixty-four patients with metachronous colorectal cancer who underwent resection at the Cancer Institute Hospital in the past 46 years were reviewed clinically and therapeutically.
The mean age at the times of first colorectal resection was 51.5 years, which was younger than that of single colorectal carcinomas. Forty two patients were men, and 22 were women. Metachronous carcinomas were predominantly located in the right colon relatively to single carcinomas. A family history of colorectal carcinoma was noted for eleven of the 64 patients (17.2% percent). adenomatous polyps were present in 29 of the 64 patients (45.0 persent). Seventeen of the 64 patients (26.6 persent) had histories of malignancies in other organs. We regard these features as the risk factors of metachronous colorectal carcinoma.
The average interval between first and second carcinomas was 95 months and 54.7% of the patients developed a second carcinoma more than five years after the first operation. A long-term follow up would be maudatory.
In several cases, resection area was restricted at the second operation because of the vascular ligation at the first operation. So we believe it is important to preserve main vessels in the patients who have such risk factors if possible.