Impact of postoperative infections on survival in colon cancer patients.
OBJECTIVE
We investigated the prognostic significance of postoperative infections for the outcome of 192 patients with colon cancer.


METHODS
The 5-year survival rates were analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier technique. Univariate and multivariate analyses were done to evaluate prognostic variables using Cox's proportional hazard model.


RESULTS
Forty-three patients developed deep incisional or organ/space surgical site infections. The groups with and without infection were comparable. Multivariate analysis showed that only Dukes' stage (p=0.048) and postoperative infection (p=0.011) were independently associated with outcome. In patients with infective complications, the survival rate was significantly lower than in subjects without infection (log rank p=0.0004).


CONCLUSIONS
These results stress the importance of evaluating variables other than the classical tumor stage in predicting long-term cancer outcome.
Nespoli
Angelo
A
Department of General Surgery, University of Studi Bicocca, Monza, Italy. angelo.nespoli@unimib.it
Gianotti
Luca
L
Bovo
Giorgio
G
Brivio
Fernando
F
Nespoli
Luca
L
Totis
Mauro
M
D003082:Colectomy / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000401:mortality; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007239:Infections / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality*; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D013530:Surgical Wound Infection / Q000401:mortality; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate