Pathologic nodal classification is the most discriminating prognostic factor for disease-free survival in rectal cancer patients treated with preoperative chemoradiotherapy and curative resection.
OBJECTIVE
We retrospectively evaluated the effects of clinical and pathologic factors on disease-free survival (DFS) with the aim of identifying the most discriminating factor predicting DFS in rectal cancer patients treated with preoperative chemoradiotherapy (CRT) and curative resection.


METHODS
The study involved 420 patients who underwent preoperative CRT and curative resection between August 2001 and October 2006. Gender, age, distance from the anal verge, histologic type, histologic grade, pretreatment carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) level, cT, cN, cStage, circumferential resection margin, type of surgery, preoperative chemotherapy, adjuvant chemotherapy, ypT, ypN, ypStage, and tumor regression grade (TRG) were analyzed to identify prognostic factors associated with DFS. To compare the discriminatory prognostic ability of four tumor response-related pathologic factors (ypT, ypN, ypStage, and TRG), the Akaike information criteria were calculated.


RESULTS
The 5-year DFS rate was 75.4%. On univariate analysis, distance from the anal verge, histologic type, histologic grade, pretreatment CEA level, cT, circumferential resection margin, type of surgery, preoperative chemotherapeutic regimen, ypT, ypN, ypStage, and TRG were significantly associated with DFS. Multivariate analysis showed that the four parameters ypT, ypN, ypStage, and TRG were, consistently, significant prognostic factors for DFS. The ypN showed the lowest Akaike information criteria value for DFS, followed by ypStage, ypT, and TRG, in that order.


CONCLUSIONS
In our study, ypT, ypN, ypStage, and TRG were important prognostic factors for DFS, and ypN was the most discriminating factor.
Kim
Tae Hyun
TH
Center for Colorectal Cancer, Research Institute and Hospital, National Cancer Center, Goyang, Korea.
Chang
Hee Jin
HJ
Kim
Dae Yong
DY
Jung
Kyung Hae
KH
Hong
Yong Sang
YS
Kim
Sun Young
SY
Park
Ji Won
JW
Oh
Jae Hwan
JH
Lim
Seok-Byung
SB
Choi
Hyo Seong
HS
Jeong
Seung-Yong
SY
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000097:blood; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy / Q000379:methods; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D019583:Dose Fractionation, Radiation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery; D012074:Remission Induction; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors
D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen