title: Clinical staging of rectal cancer.
abstract: The gross and microscopic pathologic features of 167 rectal cancers were reviewed and the size, morphology and degree of differentiation correlated with the histologic Dukes' classification. A diagnosis of Dukes' A adenocarcinoma was made in 32 percent of all rectal cancers and in 70 percent of nonulcerated partly or well differentiated cancers that did not exceed 5 cm in greatest diameter. The incidence of Dukes' A lesions in patients meeting these criteria is similar to the survival rates reported after local excision, electrocoagulation and endorectal radiation. A prospective study comparing the results of local treatment with radical resection in selected patients is recommended.
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D000368:Aged; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery