The natural history of carcinoma of the colon and rectum

Review was made of 583 cases of adenocarcinoma of the colon or rectum in which no treatment or only palliative treatment (exclusive of radiation) was given. The average survival time from diagnosis of incurable disease to death was 9.8 months. Longer survivals were observed in females, in patients with low-grade malignancy and in cases with only local spread of the carcinoma. There was little correlation with duration of symptoms prior to diagnosis or time elapsed before recurrence, with age of the patient at the time of diagnosis or with location of the primary tumor. Shorter survivals were seen in patients who had chronic ulcerative colitis with secondary malignancy.