Villous papilloma of the colon and rectum. Part II. A follow-up study of 213 patients.

A follow-up study of 213 patients with colorectal villous papillomas was performed to assess different methods of treatment and the prognostic value of several factors. Recurrences appeared in 26%. Segmental resection of the intestine gave no recurrences. The choice of surgical method had little or no influence on the 5-year survival rate. The 5-year crude survival rate for the whole series was 61% with a relative survival of 80%. The larger tumours had the poorest 5-year survival rates. Tumours with invasive carcinoma in the villous papilloma had a crude 4-year survival of 16% whereas tumours which did not originally show invasive features had a 5-year crude survival rate of 68%. Of the whole series 48 patients (22%) eventually died from colorectal cancer. It is possible that the invasive character of the tumour had been missed originally so thorough microscopic examination of the whole tumour is essential.