Fig. 3

Axial high resolution T2-weighted image of the pelvis. a Fifty-six-year-old woman with synchronous malignancies of the rectum and cervix; b Centrifugal local tumour spread, irrespective of tissue boundaries, forms the basis of traditional cancer surgery, and dictates tumour excision with metrically defined margins; c According to the ontogenetic compartment theory of local tumour spread, tumour dissemination is not centrifugal, but rather confined to embryologically determined ontogenetic compartments until relatively late-stages. Resection along compartment borders is expected to lead to better disease control