Survival and recurrence in the multidisciplinary approach of colorectal cancer

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Colorectal cancer is one of the most frequent causes of death in the general population. Our aim was to analyze our experience in the multidisciplinary approach of colorectal carcinoma during a three year period. PATIENTS AND METHOD: Between Jannuary 1996 and December 1998, we studied prospectively 807 patients with colorectal cancer. The epidemiology, treatment and outcome(recurrence and survival) were analyzed. The minimum follow-up was 3 years. RESULTS: There were 598 colon (65.5%) and 279 rectal (34.5%) tumors in all the series. Surgical treatment was elective in 84% and urgent in 16%, and was considered radical in 598 cases (74.1%). Chemotherapy or radiotherapy was administered in 49.6% and 18.3% patients, respectively. The overall 3-year survival was as follows: stage I 97.5%, stage II 90.6%, stage III 75.2%, and stage IV 12.6%. The 3-year free-disease survival was as follows: in colon cancer 97.8% for stage I, 87.3% for stage II, and 71.4% for stage III; and in rectal cancer 96.8% for stage I, 85.1% for stage II, and 75.4% for stage III. During the follow-up 124 patients (20.7%) developed recurrence: local (2.8%), systemic (15.9%) or both (2%). The three-year survival in operated patients with liver metastases was 61.9%. CONCLUSIONS: We have observed adequate survival and recurrence rates which are the result are of systematic protocols established by a multidisciplinary team.