Fifty-five patients underwent curative stapled low anterior resection for rectal adenocarcinomas located 5 to 15 cm from the anal verge. Two patients (3.7 percent) died postoperatively. The mean follow-up for the remaining 53 patients was 40 months. Local recurrence was diagnosed in 17 patients (32 percent), in most (88 percent) within the first two years after surgery. Most local recurrences appeared in patients classified as Dukes' C1 and C2 but, surprisingly, no significant difference was found between rectal tumors of high and low location as regards recurrence. The high rate of recurrence in this series may be attributable to the large number of patients with advanced tumors, and poorly differentiated carcinoma, or both.