Surgical Treatment of Obstructed Left-Sided Colorectal Cancer Patients

Colorectal cancer is the single most common cause of large intes-tinal obstruction. Approximately 2 % to 5 % of colorectal cancer patients have an obstruction. Cancer arising in the rectum or left colon is more likely to obstruct than cancer arising in the proxi-mal colon. Acute colonic obstruction produces a dilated bowel with a large amount of fecal loading that is proximal to the block-age and is associated with bacterial overgrowth and impairment of blood flow. The preferred treatment of mid or lower rectal cancer obstruc-tion is a loop colostomy, followed by neoadjuvant chemoradiation and a resection of the primary tumor at a later time. The surgical options for the treatment of left-sided colon-cancer obstruction are a Hartmann’s operation, a sigmoidectomy with primary colorectal anastomosis with or without intraoperative colonic la-vage, and an abdominal colectomy with ileorectal anastomosis [1]