Using the Registre des Tumeurs Digestives of the Côte-d'Or, a survey was conducted to study the risk of local recurrence of patients after curative surgery for rectum cancer diagnosed between 1976 and 1984 in the above mentioned department. Data was available in May 1987 for 448 patients, or 95% of the recorded cases. The cumulative local recurrence rate was 5.9% at 1 year, 19.1% at 3 years and 24.4% at 5 years. It was independent of sex, age, site of the cancer, time of diagnosis and length of distal margin (for cancers treated by anterior resection). On the other hand, the risk of local recurrence varied with macroscopic appearance (distinguishing fungating cancers from other macroscopic types), size (less than 6 cm on more than 6 cm), extension into the bowel wall (cancer limited or not to the wall) and degree of node invasion (no node involvement, 1 or 2 invaded nodes, more than 2 invaded nodes). The results of Cox model indicate that these 4 variables independently influence the risk of local recurrence. These data, which are interesting because of having been collected from a general population, are useful in planning therapeutic trials and in specifying postoperative surveillance methods. They suggest that, independently of extension into the bowel wall and node involvement, the macroscopic appearance and size of the cancer influence the risk of local recurrence.