The fibrotic focus in advanced colorectal carcinoma: a hitherto unrecognized histological predictor for liver metastasis.
A fibrotic focus (FF) is a clearly defined area consisting of fibroblasts and/or collagen fibres arranged in irregular or storiform patterns within tumours. We looked to see whether FF in advanced colorectal carcinoma was associated with distant organ metastasis especially to the liver. The correlation between FF and the presence of synchronous or total (synchronous and/or metachronous) liver metastasis and tumour recurrence was assessed in 77 patients with Dukes B and C advanced colorectal carcinoma treated by resection. The median follow-up period was 21 months. In multivariate analysis, FF significantly increased the relative risk (RR) of synchronous liver metastasis (RR=4.9, P<0.05) and total liver metastasis (RR=4.6, P<0.05). FF also increased the RR of tumour recurrence (RR=2.4), but the increase was not statistically significant. FF is a newly recognized histological indicator of liver metastasis in advanced colorectal carcinoma.
Nishimura
R
R
Pathology Division, National Cancer Centre Research Institute East, Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan.
Hasebe
T
T
Tsubono
Y
Y
Ono
M
M
Sugitoh
M
M
Arai
T
T
Mukai
K
K
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000556:secondary*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D005355:Fibrosis / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000556:secondary*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000175:diagnosis; D011379:Prognosis