A Clinicopathological Study of Poorly Differentiated Adenocarcinoma of the Colon and Rectum

Abstract

Five hundred seventy-six colorectal cancers were resected in our surgical department for the past 10 years, and 41 (7.1%) were diagnosed as poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. The clinicopathological features of the 41 poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma cases were investigated and compared with those of the well and moderately differentiated cases. Poorly differentiated adenocarcinomas were more frequently found in the right sided colon and had more deeply invaded the wall than the well and moderately differentiated ones. Lymphnode metastasis and lymph vessel invasion of the poorly differentiated adenocarcinomas were found at the rate of 70.7% and 65.9% respectively and were significantly higher than those of the well and moderately differentiated ones. But in the rate of hepatic metastasis and peritoneal dissemination, no marked difference was found between the two groups. In cases other than stage I, there was no difference in the cumulative survival rates between the two groups.