CARCINOMA OF THE RECTUM AND RECTOSIGMOID

THIS statistical study covers all patients with carcinoma of the rectum and rectosigmoid admitted to the Veterans Administration Hospital, Hines, Ill., from 1931 to 1946. This institution has been the tumor center for all Veterans Administration hospitals in the Middle West and the southern states, and there has been accumulated a wealth of material for study and analysis. The total number of patients admitted to the institution for the fifteen year period has been 131,279. Of this number, 16,097 have been admitted for malignant tumors. There have been 1,341 cases of carcinoma of the colon and rectum; in 844 of these there was carcinoma of the rectum and rectosigmoid, and in 497 there was carcinoma of the remainder of the colon.

SYMPTOMS

Character of Symptoms.

—The frequency of the most important symptoms in 400 male patients suffering with carcinoma of the rectum and rectosigmoid is given in table 1. These