eMedicine Specialties > Oncology > Carcinomas of the Gastrointestinal Tract

Rectal Cancer: Follow-up

Author: Burt Cagir, MD, FACS, Assistant Professor of Surgery, State University of New York, Upstate Medical Center; Consulting Staff, Director of Surgical Research, Robert Packer Hospital; Associate Program Director, Department of Surgery, Guthrie Clinic
Coauthor(s): Douglas R Trostle, MD, MBA, FACS,, Chairman of Surgery, The Guthrie Clinic and Robert Packer Hospital; Clinical Professor of Surgery, The Medical College of Pennsylvania
Contributor Information and Disclosures

Updated: Sep 25, 2009

Follow-up

Prognosis

  • Overall 5-year survival rates for rectal cancer are as follows:
    • Stage I, 90%
    • Stage II, 60% to 85%
    • Stage III, 27% to 60%
    • Stage IV, 5% to 7%
  • Fifty percent of patients develop recurrence, which may be local, distant, or both.
  • Local recurrence is more common in rectal cancer than in colon cancer.
    • Disease recurs in 5-30% of patients, usually in the first year after surgery.
    • Factors that influence the development of recurrence include surgeon variability, grade and stage of the primary tumor, location of the primary tumor, and ability to obtain negative margins.
    • Surgical therapy may be attempted for recurrence and includes pelvic exenteration or APR in patients who had a sphincter-sparing procedure.
    • Radiation therapy generally is used as palliative treatment in patients who have locally unresectable disease.

Patient Education

 
Acknowledgments

eMedicine gratefully acknowledges the contributions of Elizabeth Cirincione, MD, to previous versions of this article.



More on Rectal Cancer

Overview: Rectal Cancer
Differential Diagnoses & Workup: Rectal Cancer
Treatment & Medication: Rectal Cancer
Follow-up: Rectal Cancer
Multimedia: Rectal Cancer
References
Further Reading
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Keywords

rectal carcinoma, rectal adenocarcinoma, rectal polyp, rectal cancer, squamous cell carcinoma, anal carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma of the rectum, colorectal cancer

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Contributor Information and Disclosures

Author

Burt Cagir, MD, FACS, Assistant Professor of Surgery, State University of New York, Upstate Medical Center; Consulting Staff, Director of Surgical Research, Robert Packer Hospital; Associate Program Director, Department of Surgery, Guthrie Clinic
Burt Cagir, MD, FACS is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Surgeons, American Medical Association, and Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Coauthor(s)

Douglas R Trostle, MD, MBA, FACS,, Chairman of Surgery, The Guthrie Clinic and Robert Packer Hospital; Clinical Professor of Surgery, The Medical College of Pennsylvania
Douglas R Trostle, MD, MBA, FACS, is a member of the following medical societies: Alpha Omega Alpha, American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, American Association of Endocrine Surgeons, American College of Physician Executives, American College of Surgeons, American College of Surgeons Oncology Group, American Society of General Surgeons, Pennsylvania Medical Society, Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, Society of Critical Care Medicine, Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons, and Wilderness Medical Society
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Medical Editor

Philip Schulman, MD, Chief, Medical Oncology, Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; Clinical Professor, Department of Medicine, New York University School of Medicine
Philip Schulman, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American Association for Cancer Research, American College of Physicians, American Society of Hematology, and Medical Society of the State of New York
Disclosure: celgene Honoraria Speaking and teaching; Amgen Honoraria Speaking and teaching; genetech/idec Honoraria Speaking and teaching

Pharmacy Editor

Francisco Talavera, PharmD, PhD, Senior Pharmacy Editor, eMedicine
Disclosure: eMedicine Salary Employment

Managing Editor

Wendy Hu, MD, Consulting Staff, Department of Hematology/Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation, Huntington Memorial Medical Center
Wendy Hu, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American Association for the Advancement of Science, American College of Physicians, American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation, American Society of Hematology, and Physicians for Social Responsibility
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

CME Editor

Rajalaxmi McKenna, MD, FACP, Southwest Medical Consultants, SC, Department of Medicine, Good Samaritan Hospital, Advocate Health Systems
Rajalaxmi McKenna, MD, FACP is a member of the following medical societies: American Society of Clinical Oncology, American Society of Hematology, and International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Chief Editor

Jules E Harris, MD, Clinical Professor of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Medical Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Arizona College of Medicine at Tucson; Consulting Staff, Arizona Cancer Center
Jules E Harris, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American Association for Cancer Research, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Association of Immunologists, American Society of Hematology, and Central Society for Clinical Research
Disclosure: GlobeImmune Salary Consulting; Amplimed Consulting fee Consulting; FibroGen Consulting fee Consulting

 
 
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