Palliative resection of colorectal cancer: does it prolong survival?
BACKGROUND
It is still a matter of debate as to whether resective surgery of the primary tumor may prolong the survival of patients affected by incurable colorectal cancer (CRC). The main goal of this retrospective study, carried out on patients not undergoing any therapy other than surgery, was to quantify the benefit of primary tumor removal in patients with differently presenting incurable CRC.


METHODS
One hundred and thirty consecutive patients were operated on for incurable CRC (83 undergoing resective and 47 non-resective procedures). With the purpose of comparing homogenous populations and of identifying patients who may benefit from primary tumor resection, the patients were classified according to classes of disease, based on the "metastatic pattern" and the "resectability of primary tumor."


RESULTS
In patients with "resectable" primary tumors, resective procedures are associated with longer median survival than after non-resective ones (9 months vs 3). Only patients with distant spread without neoplastic ascites/carcinosis benefit from primary tumor removal (median survival: 9 months vs 3). Morbidity and mortality of resective procedures is not significantly different from that of non-resective surgery, either in the population studied or in any of the groups considered.


CONCLUSIONS
Palliative resection of primary CRC should be pursued in patients with unresectable distant metastasis (without carcinomatosis), and, intraoperatively, whenever the primary tumor is technically resectable.
Costi
Renato
R
Dipartimento di Scienze Chirurgiche, Università di Parma, Parma, Italia. renatocosti@hotmail.com
Mazzeo
Antonio
A
Di Mauro
Davide
D
Veronesi
Licia
L
Sansebastiano
Giuliano
G
Violi
Vincenzo
V
Roncoroni
Luigi
L
Sarli
Leopoldo
L
D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010166:Palliative Care; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000401:mortality*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate