Abstract
We studied the clinical significance of histological heterogeneity (the histological combination in a single tumor) in colorectal cancer, and examined immunohistologically the expression of urokinase-type plasminogen acticator (uPA). The patients were less than 75 years, and had undergone curative surgery for advanved colorectal cancer. Their cases were investigated for the relation between histological heterogeneity and clinicopathological factors, and the influence on disease free 5-year survival rate and recurrent form. Furthermore, uPA expression was examined immunohistologically. The positive cases of histological heterogeneity showed poor prognoses in disease free 5-year survival rate. Histological heterogeneity related to local recurrence in colon cancer. UPA showed no significance in relation to histological heterogeneity. We speculated that the histological heterogeneity reflected biological malignancy of tumors and proved to be an important prognosis detecting factor.
