title: Mucinous carcinomas of the colon and rectum. An analysis of 62 stage B and C lesions.
abstract: The significance of a large extracellular mucinous component in colorectal adenocarcinomas continues to be controversial. We studied 62 stage B and C mucinous carcinomas defined by 60% or greater mucinous component. Sixty of these patients had matched nonmucinous adenocarcinoma controls. Patients with mucinous carcinomas with a residual adenoma had a significantly greater survival than those who did not. Overall, no difference was noted in 5-year survival between patients with mucinous carcinoma and nonmucinous adenocarcinoma (64% each). However, when the stages were considered separately, patients with stage B mucinous carcinoma fared significantly worse and had more local sites of treatment failure. We speculate that patients with stage B mucinous carcinoma may have a worse prognosis owing to the extra-cellular mucin, which may make a complete surgical extirpation more difficult.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston.
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Connelly
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Robey-Cafferty
authors.forename: K R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Cleary
mesh_terms: D002288:Adenocarcinoma, Mucinous / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D016019:Survival Analysis