Abstract
Objective : We investigated the mitotic counts of the most severely invaded regions in advanced colon cancers that invaded the subserosal layer (ss) and showed poor prognosis despite curative surgery.
Materials : Twenty-three patients who died of cancer within 5 years after curative surgery (poor prognosis group) and 26 patients who survived 5 years or longer after curative surgery.
Methods : The two groups were compared based on the following factors ; 1) clinicopathological background factors ; 2) mitotic counts of cancer cells in individual layers, the superficial, intermediate, and deep layers ; 3) mitotic counts of cancer cells in the most severely invaded areas ; 4) mitotic counts of cancer cells in the most severely invaded areas stratified by duration of post operative survival (years).
Measurement and Results : The mitotic counts of cancer cells were significantly higher in the most severely invaded area than in the superficial layer, and in the poor prognosis group than in the good prognosis group.
Conclusions : Evaluation of the mitotic counts in the most severely invaded areas in colon cancers may be useful for predicting the prognosis of colon cancer showing ss invasion after curative surgery.
