[Emergencies in oncologic surgery of the large intestine]

The authors analyse of the large intestine at their Institute over the past 20 years. Four hundred and fifty-two cases out of 842 were performed during the period 1970-1979 and 300 during the subsequent decade. 21% (95 cases) were emergencies during the first decade and 16% (62 cases) during the second. From this study it emerges that patients operated with primary resection during the first decade 1970-1979 had a better survival rate than those operated in various stages. This was particularly true of cases of occlusion, whereas in cases of perforation the percentage remained practically unchanged. The approach adopted for this type of pathology changed during the next decade and it was decided to opt for primary resective surgery. A comparison between emergency surgery performed in a single session and operations performed in a number of stages revealed that both survival and morbidity were improved in primary resective surgery, 20% and 10% respectively, whereas mortality was higher (15%).