In an era of economic pressure, @entity1 's participation in decision-making and evidence-based medicine, the need for quality assurance of medical processes in daily routine becomes increasingly important. The aim of this quality assessment study is to demonstrate the real state of surgical care of @entity1 with @entity189 in the context of a field study on quality management in oncology. METHODS: Prolective cohort-study, small-area-analysis. Between 01.01.1997 and 31.12.1998, all @entity1 with newly diagnosed @entity189 and treatment in the county of Marburg-Biedenkopf (252.975 inhabitants, 3 hospitals) were included in the study. Documentation included all variables (n = 82) relevant for primary surgical therapy according to guidelines and standards. RESULTS: 146 consecutive @entity1 fulfilled the inclusion criteria. 93% underwent resection of the @entity5 . In 6.6% of these cases rigid rectoscopy for determination of the @entity5 's distance from the anal verge was not performed. In 16.9% the colon was not examined completely. In 98.5% the state of distant metastases was documented preoperatively. 93% of the @entity1 with @entity5 in the upper/middle third of the rectum and curative-intent surgery (n = 68) received a sphincter-saving operation. For all curative-intent procedures negative resection margins were confirmed histologically. Complication rates were 31.6% for anterior resection and 46.9% for abdominoperineal extirpation. CONCLUSIONS: Comparative analysis of quality indicators revealed a predominantly good quality of care. Improving efforts can now be concentrated on few areas of suboptimal quality in the setting of internal quality management. Critical results require detailed analysis of the single cases. Thus, conditions requiring deviation from guidelines become apparent.

[Surgical therapy of XXXX . Portrayal of the current health care status within the scope of a district quality assurance study].

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['patients', 'patient'] @entity5 :: ('MESH:D009369', 'Disease') :: ['tumor', 'tumors'] @entity189 :: ('MESH:D002277', 'Disease') :: ['rectal carcinoma']
@entity189 :: (MESH:D002277,Disease) :: ['rectal carcinoma']
