Background: Colorectal cancer remains a huge diagnostic and therapeutic issue in Poland and worldwide. World epidemiological data indicates a constant increase in morbidity in recent decades.
Objectives: The aim of this research was to present surgical procedures in malignant and benign colorectal neoplasms based on authors' clinical data.
Material and methods: Between 2001 and 2010, in the 1st Department of General and Endocrinological Surgery in Bialystok, 754 patients with malignant colorectal cancer were hospitalized. Precancerous conditions which included polyps and non-specific bowel inflammations were observed in 491 and 52 patients, respectively.
Results: The most frequent location of a malignant colorectal tumor was the rectum - 271 (35%) cases and sigmoid colon - 235 (31%) cases. In 8 cases (1%), a multifocal location of colorectal neoplasm was observed. Similar locations were observed in the case of polyps. They were observed the most frequently in the sigmoid colon - 144 (29.3%) cases and rectum - 122 (24.8%) cases. In the cases of colorectal cancer located in the rectum (271), the most frequently applied procedure was abdomino-perineal amputation - 102 (37.6%) patients (T1-3 N1-2 M0). In sigmoid colon cancer (235 cases), sigmoid colon resection was performed most frequently - in 175 patients (74.5%) (T1-3 N0-2 M0-1). Right hemicolectomy was performed in 120 (T1-4 N0-2 M0-1) patients and left hemicolectomy in 52 (T1-4 N02 M0-1) patients. In 482 cases, endoscopic resection of polyps was performed and in 9 patients resection through laparotomy. The majority of operations were performed according to plan, however, many of them were performed in emergency.
Conclusions: Colorectal cancers, irrespectively to their location, develop secretly without any symptoms in the early stages which is the reason why patients contact a doctor in the late stadium of the disease. It is also the cause for a majority of the procedures performed in emergency. The best prognosis and long-term results are obtained with treatment combined with radio- and chemotherapy.