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Selective Surgical Treatment of Patients with Rectal Carcinoma and Unresectable Synchronous Metastases Based on Response to Preoperative Chemotherapy

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Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery

Abstract

Background

The time schedule for chemotherapy and primary tumor resection in patients with rectal carcinoma (RC) and unresectable synchronous metastases (USM) is not well defined. We evaluated whether response to chemotherapy is an appropriate criterion for deciding to perform surgery.

Methods

We treated 22 patients with RC and USM who received chemotherapy and were regularly evaluated. After documentation of a partial remission (PR) or stable disease (SD), patients were offered resection of the primary tumor. Results were compared with those of a historical control group of 42 patients who underwent immediate surgery.

Results

Seven patients had a PR, four showed SD, and 11 progressed under chemotherapy. Seven patients underwent resection of the primary tumor (no perioperative mortality). The median survival for all 22 patients was 20.2 months. Patients with primary tumor resection survived 27.2 months, whereas patients without resection survived only 12.4 months (p = 0.017). The median survival in the control group was 13.5 months (perioperative mortality, 9.5%).

Conclusion

Chemotherapy and response-dependent resection of the primary tumor results in the same survival time as that attained with immediate surgery. Patients who face a poor prognosis due to progressive disease are thereby spared the risks of major rectal surgery.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of General and Visceral Surgery, Dresden-Friedrichstadt General Hospital, Teaching Hospital of the Technical University Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    Sigmar Stelzner, Gunter Hellmich, Thomas Jackisch, Klaus Ludwig & Helmut Witzigmann

  2. Krankenhaus Dresden-Friedrichstadt, Klinik für Allgemein-und Viszeralchirurgie, Friedrichstr. 41, 01067, Dresden, Germany

    Sigmar Stelzner

Authors
  1. Sigmar Stelzner
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  2. Gunter Hellmich
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  3. Thomas Jackisch
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  4. Klaus Ludwig
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  5. Helmut Witzigmann
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Correspondence to Sigmar Stelzner.

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Stelzner, S., Hellmich, G., Jackisch, T. et al. Selective Surgical Treatment of Patients with Rectal Carcinoma and Unresectable Synchronous Metastases Based on Response to Preoperative Chemotherapy. J Gastrointest Surg 12, 1246–1250 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11605-008-0506-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11605-008-0506-y

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