Recurrence of colonic cancer twice at the site of stapled colorectal anastomosis.

Recurrence at the site of a stapled anastomosis is generally believed to result from the luminal implantation of viable cancer cells during stapling. We report a case in which colon cancer recurred twice at the site of a stapled anastomosis, despite povidone iodine (PVP-I) lavage consisting of an enema with 5% PVP-I solution before the operation and intraoperative lavage of the rectal remnant and the descending colon with a 10% PVP-I solution. Three months after sigmoidectomy to resect a carcinoma of the sigmoid colon, a circular anastomotic recurrence was found at the suture line after anastomosis with a stapler. However, 11 months after the subsequent resection and reanastomosis to remove the first anastomotic recurrence, another anastomotic recurrence was found. We performed abdominoperineal resection for the second recurrence at the site of the stapled anastomosis. Suture-line recurrence could not be prevented in the present case despite lavage with a PVP-I solution for prophylaxis.