Pelvic recurrence of cancer after abdominoperineal resection of the rectum.

Records of 122 patients with carcinoma of the rectum treated by abdominoperineal resection at M. D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute between 1967 and 1972 were reviewed with regard to local pelvic recurrence and survival. Local recurrence rates for men were: stage IB, 14%; II, 23%; and III, 21%; and for women: IB, 6%; II, 15%; and III, 35%. Forty-one percent of the male patients and 54% of female patients had nodal metastasis at the time of their initial operation. The high pelvic recurrence rates in women may lend support to consideration of a posterior exenteration in all female patients with advanced carcinoma of the rectum.