A study of risk factors for recurrence and predictive factors for prognosis in patients with stage II colorectal cancer

Abstract

Objectives : This study was made to elucidate risk factors for recurrence and predictive factors for prognosis of Stage II colorectal cancer and to evaluate effects of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. Subjects and methods : Consecutive 216 patients who underwent radicality A or B operation for Stage II colorectal cancer were enrolled in this study, and their clinicopathological findings were examined. Results : A multivariate analysis selected three risk factors for recurrence, namely location of the tumor (Ra, Rb), depth of tumor invasion (SE, SI), and venous invasion of the tumor (V2, 3) : and three predictive factors for prognosis, namely location of the tumor (Ra, Rb), depth of tumor invasion (SE, SI), and lymphatic invasion (ly2, 3). A study evaluating effects of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy on prognosis resulted in that the overall surviving rate tended to be higher in the patients group with postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy than other patients group without it (P=0.08). Another study of effects on recurrence in patients who had risk factors for recurrence revealed that a higher tendency in relapse-free survival rate was noted in the patients group with postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy than the other group without it (P=0.08). Considerations : This study suggests that we may be able to expect favorable effects on recurrence and prognosis of Stage II colorectal cancer patients by performing postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy.