Tumor sidedness has emerged as an important prognostic and predictive factor in the treatment of colorectal cancer. Recent studies demonstrate that patients with advanced right-sided colon cancers have a worse prognosis than those with left-sided colon or rectal cancers, and these patient subgroups respond differently to biological therapies. Historically, management of patients with metastatic...

BACKGROUND/AIMS The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of 3-T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in locating rectal cancer, and to determine whether tumor location correlates with the incidence of pulmonary metastasis. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 146 patients with confirmed rectal adenocarcinoma underwent 3-T rectal MRI, and abdominal and chest computed tomography (CT) within 2...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Sentinel lymph node (SLN) mapping is an additional method for improving colorectal cancer nodal staging. The purpose of the study was to define the method's accuracy in nodal staging, its upstaging benefits and to identify the predictive factors for its failure. METHODS Lymphatic mapping was performed using technetium-99m-phytate and patent blue in 52 consecutive col...

Several factors determine overall outcome and possible local recurrence after curative surgery for rectal carcinoma. Surgical performance is usually believed to be the most pertinent factor, followed by adjuvant oncological treatment and tumor histopathology. However, chromosomal instability is common in colorectal cancer and tumor clones are assumed to differ in aggressiveness and potential of...

Improvements in surgery and the application of combined approaches to fight rectal cancer have succeeded in reducing the anastomotic recurrences (AR), which is relatively rare among pelvic recurrences of rectal cancer following surgical resection, ranging 2.4% from 12% of all patients who underwent colorectal anastomosis (Li Destri et al., 2011). Nevertheless, anastomotic recurrence of rectal c...

We present the case report of a twenty-five-year-old Moroccan male patient who suffered from leptomeningeal carcinomatosis related to a signet-ring cell carcinoma of the rectum. He presented to the emergency department with abdominal pain, constipation, weight loss and rectal bleeding. The rectal examination showed a rectal tumor and a CT scan revealed a large bowel obstruction due to rectal di...

Tumors of the rectum can be primary or metasta-tic, as observed with the other organs. Primary cancer of the rectum is not rare and accounts for one-third of all cases of colorectal cancer. Invasion of a cancer originating from other pelvic organs might also be seen. Beyond malignant diseases, rectal polyps are reported with a prevalence of 7-50% in the general population, especially in older p...

Background: In recent years, neoadjuvant chemoradiation and subsequent surgical resection with total mesorectal excision has been shown to increase local control with decreased toxicity. Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy is the standard treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer. In this study we evaluated the efficacy a cox-2 inhibitor on pathologic response, sphincter preservation and acute tox...