Radical external beam radiation therapy for adenocarcinoma of the rectum.

External beam megavoltage radiation therapy was used as primary treatment for 123 patients with rectal adenocarcinoma. Surgery was undertaken for some patients who had residual tumor. The overall five-year survival rate was 21 per cent. When patients were separated into those who presented with clinically mobile and those with clinically fixed rectal tumor masses, the survival rates were 38 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively. The primary tumor was controlled by radiation alone in 21 of 56 (38 per cent) patients who had mobile tumors but in only six of 67 (9 per cent) patients who had fixed tumors. Further investigation of high-dose primary radiation, with surgery reserved for patients with residual rectal carcinoma, may allow reduction of the number of patients who require abdominoperineal resection.