Treatment and outcome of right colon cancers adherent to adjacent organs or the abdominal wall.

Fifty-four (4%) of 1284 patients treated for adenocarcinoma of the colon and rectum during a 10-year period ending in 1989 underwent potentially curative resection of right colon lesions found during surgery to be adherent to adjacent organs, abdominal wall, or retroperitoneum. Final pathologic staging was as follows: modified Dukes' class B1 (n = 2), B2 (n = 24), C1 (n = 1), and C2 (n = 27). Thirteen (24%) patients had postoperative complications, including two (3.7%) with sepsis. One patient died after surgery (mortality, 1.9%). Survival rates at 1, 3, and 5 years were 74%, 52%, and 37%, respectively. Only one (11%) of nine patients with pancreatic or duodenal adherence treated with limited resection was free of disease during follow-up. Adjuvant radiation therapy and chemotherapy did not improve survival. Histologic depth of tumor penetration could not be predicted by intraoperative assessment, and therefore radical resection is recommended whenever possible.