Radical surgical resection is the "gold standard" treatment for rectal carcinoma. Results indicating that radiation therapy reduces the incidence of local recurrence and that combined modality radiation therapy and chemotherapy reduce the rate of local and distant failures, as well as improving survival, has produced interest in adjuvant therapy. Conservative procedures to treat rectal cancer are also gaining support because of reduced morbidity and mortality, avoidance of colostomy, and excellent survival figures in selected patients. The key phrase continues to be "in selected patients" because current data support conservative procedures as attempts for cure only in patients with small, histologically favorable tumors. The combination of local excision and adjuvant external beam irradiation holds promise for improved control of local disease in patients with early rectal carcinoma. Further prospective evaluation with long-term follow-up of patients with early rectal carcinoma treated with conservative procedures is needed to assess the efficacy of conservative management.