Cryosurgery: adjuvant treatment at the time of resection of a pelvic recurrence in rectal cancer.

We report a case in which cryosurgical ablation was used to treat recurrent rectal cancer. Several years after low anterior resection for rectal cancer, the patient was found to have a large pelvic recurrence with involvement of the presacral space. After resection of the pelvic mass, cryosurgery was applied to the presacral space, extending to the lateral pelvic wall and up to the sacral promontory. After a 24-month follow-up, the patient remains disease-free with a Karnofsky performance status of 100 per cent. Cryosurgery can be used as an adjuvant therapy at the time of resection to successfully treat a pelvic recurrence.