TEM results of the Tuebingen group.

From August 1st 1989 to May 1st 1993, 190 rectal adenomas and 75 carcinomas were locally excised with the TEM technique. The mortality was 0.4%, the rate of complications which required surgical re-intervention was 3% in adenomas and 8% in carcinomas. The final histology of the removed carcinomas revealed 44 pT1, 23 pT2 and eight pT3 stages. In two of the eight re-resected patients with pT1 low-risk tumours, residual primary tumour but no lymph node metastases were found. In contrast to this, three of the eleven re-resected patients with pT2 low-risk tumours had already developed lymph node metastases. After an average follow-up time of 14 months, two recurrences were observed in the group of the only locally treated patients with pT1 low-risk carcinomas. Both underwent a secondary procedure for cure but in late tumour stages. No recurrence was diagnosed so far among the re-resected patients.