[Emergency operations in colorectal cancer].

Abstract

In a group of 161 patients subjected to emergency surgery of rectocolonic cancers with occlusive (111 cases), hemorrhagic (39 cases) or perforating (11 cases) complications, the authors analyze the immediate therapeutic results, as a function of the complication form and the surgical method used in emergency (primary colectomy, serial surgeries, palliative surgeries). Emergency colectomy (55 cases) performed deliberately in strictly selected cases or as the unique possible choice, was followed by immediate good results (the lowest rate of surgical morbidity and mortality) in comparison with the serial surgeries (cumulative morbidity and mortality). The paper discusses the indications of the proximal colectomy and of Hartman's surgery in primary emergency colectomies. Serial surgeries (secondary colectomy--30 cases) are mainly indicated in the complicated cancers of the left colon, in the patients with resectable tumours, but with critical biological state or with insufficiently prepared colon. Palliative surgeries (colostomies, internal derivations) used in patients with nonresectable tumours were followed by the highest surgical mortality, a consequence of the biological substrate weakened by disease and complications. The data reported show the necessity of a selective tactical behaviour in the emergency surgery of rectocolonic cancer and plead for the primary urgent colectomy in the patients meeting certain general and local conditions. Likewise, they point to the importance of discovering rectocolonic cancer in an early stage, before the appearance of complications requiring the emergency surgery.