Results of Endoscopic Removal of Villous Tumors of the Colon

Summary The author analyses the results of endoscopic removal of 136 villous tumors of the colon in 125 patients. The tumors ranged from 2 cm to over 6 cm in size. In the article emphasis is placed on the fact that multi-stage interventions are mainly practiced in the removal of villous tumors. A study of the histological structure has shown that malignancy in the group of villous tumors is considerably more rarely encountered than in the group of combined papillary adenomas, despite the fact that villous tumors are larger than glandular-villous adenomas. Dynamic supervision over a period of up to 7 years shows that in 68 out of 95 men there were no signs of recurrence, in 16 men the so-called “growth recurrence” was seen, and in 5 men continued growth of the primary tumor; in 2 cases new villous tumors were detected, and in 4 carcinomas were detected at the sites at which villous tumors had been previously removed. Endoscopic removal of villous tumors should rightfully be considered the procedure of choice in dealing with nodal and spreading tumors of the colon, especially in elderly patients suffering from severe accompanying diseases.