[Interest of radiotherapy of rectal cancer with synchronous metastases].
OBJECTIVE
There is no consensus about the treatment of rectal tumour when there are synchronous metastases. The interest of radiotherapy is debated.


METHODS
Thirty-seven patients with rectal tumour and synchronous metastases were treated with radiotherapy first between September 1994 and December 2004. We analysed the tolerance, local control, resecability, overall survival of such a therapeutic strategy.


RESULTS
The mean follow-up was 30 months. Twenty-four tumors were resecable for both the primary site and the metastases. Thirteen were unresecable at the time of diagnosis. Thirty-three patients were treated with radiochemotherapy, ten with radiotherapy alone. Eighty-six decimal five percent of them had no pelvic symptom six weeks after the treatment. Twenty-one rectal tumours were finally resected. The disease progressed in six cases during the radiotherapy. Surgery of the metastases was possible for 12 patients with tumour initially resecable.


CONCLUSIONS
Radiochemotherapy is a "tolerable" treatment, in spite of more frequent urinary or digestive side-effects. But, if there is no surgery, palliative effect of radiotherapy is limited.
Tournat
H
H
Service de radiothérapie et d'oncologie médicale, hôpital Saint-André, 1, rue Jean-Burguet, 33075 Bordeaux, France. helene_tournat@yahoo.fr
Vendrely
V
V
Cherciu
B
B
Smith
D
D
Laurent
C
C
Capdepont
M
M
Kantor
G
G
Maire
J P
JP
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000532:radiotherapy*