title: Evaluation of clinical, morphopathological and therapeutic prognostic factors in rectal cancer. Experience of a tertiary oncology center.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Morphopathological factors continue to be the most important prognostic factors in colorectal cancer, but there is evidence regarding the prognostic value of some factors that are not yet used in current clinical practice. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the most important clinical, morphopathological and therapeutic prognostic factors in rectal cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study retrospectively analyzed 317 patients diagnosed and treated at the Ion Chiricuta Institute of Oncology between 2000-2008. The prognostic value of 13 variables was analyzed and correlations between them were established. Nine variables were included in a multivariate analysis model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 5-year overall survival (OS) was 55.6%, significantly higher for patients with TNM stage I disease 7l.7%), compared to stage II (71.4%), stage III (45.4%) and stage IV (12.5%; p<0.001). In multivariate analysis, the independent prognostic factors were tumor stage, age, lymph node invasion, venous, lymphatic and perineural invasion.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In addition to the TNM stage and lymph node invasion, age, venous, lymphatic and perineural invasion were also proved to have prognostic significance in rectal cancer. Further studies are required for the validation of prognostic assessment models in patients diagnosed with rectal cancer.
authors.affiliation: Ion Chiricuta Institute of Oncology, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Catalin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vlad
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kubelac
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vlad
authors.forename: Alexanrdu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Irimie
authors.forename: Patriciu
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Achimas Cadariu
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012383:Romania; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome