title: [Results of long-term follow-up after local excision for well-selected low rectal cancers].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  to evaluate our results about local failure, total recurrence and survival.
  
  
  METHODS
  twenty-one patients underwent a complete local transanal excision for low rectal cancer in our institution during an 18-year period (1985-2003). Preoperative staging included clinical, endoscopic, CT, EUSR, and histopathological findings; pathological specimens were 4 T1, 13 T2 and 4 T3 tumors. None of the T1 patients received another treatment; 6 out of 13 T2 and all of T3 cases were treated with chemoradiotherapy. None of the latter underwent radical surgery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  follow-up (median 74 months) proved 23.8% for total recurrence and 19.0% for local failure (out of all 3 T2 cases only one received chemoradiotherapy, and one T3 received adjuvant treatment). Five-year survival is 95.2%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  this experience allows us to assert that local excision is a good choice in well-selected low rectal cancer patients; for T2 tumors chemoradiotherapy is necessary; in T3 patients radical surgery must be prompt.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Cirugía (Centro), Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Hospital Clíinico San Borja-Arriarán, Chile. jcontreras@med.uchile.cl
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Contreras
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bannura
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barrera
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zúñiga
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Melo
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Soto
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D015996:Survival Rate; D013997:Time Factors