title: Histologic prognostic markers in stage IIA colorectal cancer: a comparative study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  pTNM stage IIA colorectal cancer (CRC) is not currently submitted to any adjuvant treatment due to its good prognosis. Nevertheless, a percentage of cases unexpectedly recur. The aim of this study was to assess and compare the prognostic value and inter-observer agreement of a novel histological grading system based on the counting of poorly differentiated clusters (PDC) of cancer cells and that of conventional histological grade, lymphatic, venous and perineural invasion (LVI, VI, PNI), tumour budding (TB) and tumor border configuration in stage IIA CRC.
  
  
  METHODS
  the afore mentioned histological parameters were assessed in 82 stage IIA CRCs. Inter-observer agreement and correlation with tumour relapse were analyzed by using Fleiss-Cohen's weighted K statistics, Fisher exact test and Chi-squared test. The Mantel-Cox log-rank test was applied to assess the strength of association with disease-free interval (DFI).
  
  
  RESULTS
  inter-observer agreement was very good/good in the assessment of PDC presence and grade, while it was moderate at best in the evaluation of the other parameters. The presence of PDC, high PDC grade, LVI and TB were significantly associated with disease progression (p < 0.0001; p = 0.0012; p = 0.0308; p = 0.0002) and shorter DFI (p = 0.0001; p < 0.0001; p = 0.0129; p = 0.0008). PDC presence (p < 0.0001) and TB (p = 0.012) were independent prognostic factors in multivariate analysis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  our findings suggest that the assessment of PDC may be useful to stratify patients with stage IIA CRC for recurrence risk, and to identify high risk patients who could benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Human Pathology "G. Barresi" , Unit of Anatomic Pathology, University of Messina , Italy and.
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Barresi
authors.affiliation: b Department of Laboratory Integrated Activities , Anatomic Pathology and Legal Medicine, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia , Modena , Italy.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Reggiani Bonetti
authors.affiliation: a Department of Human Pathology "G. Barresi" , Unit of Anatomic Pathology, University of Messina , Italy and.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ieni
authors.affiliation: a Department of Human Pathology "G. Barresi" , Unit of Anatomic Pathology, University of Messina , Italy and.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Branca
authors.affiliation: a Department of Human Pathology "G. Barresi" , Unit of Anatomic Pathology, University of Messina , Italy and.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tuccari
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D018450:Disease Progression; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D006801:Humans; D042601:Lymphatic Vessels / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000473:pathology*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D015588:Observer Variation; D011379:Prognosis; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*
keywords: Colorectal cancer; D2-40; PDC; disease progression; lymphatic invasion; stage II; tumour budding