Synchronous cancers of the colon and rectum: report of eight cases.

This study reviews eight patients collected over a period of 3 yr with synchronous primary adenocarcinomas with special emphasis on presentation of illness, diagnosis, location of tumors, and their association with benign polyps. All of the synchronous carcinomas in this study were located in different surgical segments and all associated benign polyps were located in the same surgical segments. Workup included colonoscopy followed by completion of colon examination by barium enema. All patients underwent surgical resection of their tumors. It is therefore concluded that the incidence their tumors. It is therefore concluded that the incidence of synchronous tumors of the large colon is high enough to warrant total colon examination either by colonoscopy or barium enema.