title: Reporting of the circumferential tumour margin involvement and preoperative levels of carcinoembryonic antigen as prognostic risk factors in colorectal cancer patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The two very important prognostic risk factors of colorectal cancer are circumferential tumour margin (CTM) involvement and preoperative levels of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). The aim of this study is to monitor the frequency of reporting of the CTM in the postoperative pathology reports after colorectal cancer resection in addition to monitoring the frequency of reporting of preoperative levels of CEA and exploring the possibility of improving the frequency of reporting of both.
  
  
  METHODS
  Reports of the CTM and preoperative level of CEA were found in 730 (664 retrospective and 66 prospective) patients with colorectal cancer. The possibility of improving the incidence of reporting was estimated by comparing the reporting frequency of both (retrospective and prospective) groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The percentage of reporting the involvement of the CTM was 46.08% and 81.81% for the retrospective group and the prospective group, respectively. The percentage of reporting the preoperative CEA levels was 40.9% and 68.7% for the retrospective and the prospective groups, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference in reporting both CTMs and the preoperative level of CEA between retrospective and prospective groups to the side of prospective group in which the p-value was <0.0001 for both groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There was inadequate reporting of both the CTM involvement and preoperative levels of CEA in the retrospective patients with statistically significant improvement of this reporting in patients in the prospective group. This may point to the unawareness of the importance of both in the prognosis of colorectal cancer, which may be because both are not involved in the widely used tumour, node, metastasis (TNM) staging system.
authors.affiliation: General Surgery Department, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt. Electronic address: dr.yeho@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Mohamed Yehia
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Elbarmelgi
authors.affiliation: General Surgery Department, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt. Electronic address: Farag2a@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ahmed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Farag
authors.affiliation: Medical Oncology Department, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt. Electronic address: azimonc@cairocure.com.
authors.forename: Hamdy A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Azim
authors.affiliation: General Surgery Department, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. Electronic address: Ahabaz@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Ahmed Abdelaziz
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Abozeid
authors.affiliation: General Surgery Department, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt. Electronic address: mashour24@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Abdrabou N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Mashour
authors.affiliation: General Surgery Department, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt. Electronic address: hanydc@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Hany M S
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Mikhail
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000378:metabolism*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D004282:Documentation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004534:Egypt; D006801:Humans; D057234:Preoperative Period; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen
keywords: Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA); Circumferential tumour margin (CTM); Colorectal cancer; Prognosis; Staging