Impression of prognosis regarding pathologic stage after preoperative chemoradiotherapy in rectal cancer

Table 1 Characteristics of patients receiving and not receiving preoperative chemoradiotherapy n (%)

	No-PCRT (n = 394)	PCRT (n = 500)	P value
Age (yr), median (range)	60 (52-68)	57 (49-64)	< 0.001
< 50	72 (18.3)	124 (24.8)
50-65	183 (46.4)	269 (53.8)
> 65	139 (35.3)	107 (21.4)
Gender			0.028
Male	236 (59.9)	335 (67.0)
Female	158 (40.1)	165 (33.0)
Location			< 0.001
Mid-rectum	277 (70.3)	175 (35.0)
Low rectum	117 (29.7)	325 (65.0)
Sphincter preservation	358 (90.9)	372 (74.4)	< 0.001
Among patients with low rectum	83 (70.9)	203 (62.5)	0.053
Clinical stage			0.86
II	21 (5.3)	28 (5.6)
III	373 (94.7)	472 (94.4)
Pathologic stage1
0	-	83 (16.6)
I	97 (24.6)	128 (25.6)
II	145 (36.8)	135 (27.0)
III	152 (38.6)	154 (30.8)
Number of harvested lymph nodes	16 (11-22)	13 (9-17)	< 0.001
Length of distal resection margin (cm)	2.2 (1.4-3.3)	2.4 (1.4-3.8)	0.64
Adjuvant chemotherapy1	321 (81.5)	474 (94.8)	< 0.001
Adjuvant radiotherapy	116 (29.4)
Follow-up duration (mo)	60 (39-80)	56 (43-68)	0.54

¹The pathologic stage for the PCRT group was based on yp stage. PCRT: Preoperative chemoradiotherapy.

Table 2 Univariate and multivariate cox proportional hazards regression models of the clinical factors associated with recurrence-free survival in preoperative chemoradiotherapy patients with pathologically- proven metastatic lymph nodes

Factor	Univariate analysis			Multivariate analysis
	HR	95%CI	P value	HR	95%CI	P value
Sex			0.41
Male	1.00
Female	0.85	0.57-1.25
Age (yr)	1.00	0.98-1.02	0.89
Lymphovascular invasion			0.54
None	1.00
Present	1.28	0.83-1.98
Perineural invasion			0.01			0.02
None	1.00			1.00
Present	1.89	1.22-2.95		1.82	1.15-2.87
Sphincter preservation			0.01			0.93
No	1.00			1.00
Yes	0.60	0.40-0.89		0.96	0.35-2.59
Tumor grade			0.34
G1, G2	1.00
G3, G4	1.31	0.75-2.31
Preoperative CEA			0.45
Normal	1.00
Increased	1.22	0.73-2.05
Location of tumor			0.25			0.89
Mid-rectum	1.00
Lower rectum	1.26	0.85-1.87		1.03	0.66-1.62
Number of retrieved lymph node	0.97	0.95-1.01	0.14
Adjuvant chemotherapy1			0.36			0.46
Same1	1.00			1.00
Altered	0.72	0.35-1.47		0.76	0.36-1.58

¹Same: same regimen as that used for preoperative concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Altered: Second-line regimen was different from that used for preoperative chemotherapy; CEA: Carcinoembryonic antigen.