The standard therapy for a tumor near the anus is an abdominal perineal resection with or without adjuvant chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy .
For tumors in the upper rectum far from the anus, a wide margin of tissue may be removed and the bowel reconnected to the anus, with or without adjuvant chemotherapy and radiation therapy .
Removal of the pelvic organs (pelvic exenteration) may be necessary to remove all the cancer and may be followed by adjuvant chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy when the level of penetration has reached the C3 stage.
For tumors near the anus, radiation therapy followed by surgery may allow the sphincter function to be preserved.
There is a 50 percent chance of recurrence with this stage of disease.
The 1990 Consensus Conference on Colon and Rectal Cancer noted that if one to four lymph nodes are positive, 55 to 60 percent will be cured. If five or more are positive, only 33 percent will be cured. Current adjuvant therapy will improve all of the old prognostic figures.
Five-Year Survival Up to 60 percent (40 to 50 percent for Dukes' C1, 15 to 25 percent for C2, 10 to 20 percent for C3). These data do not reflect results of current adjuvant therapy programs.
