Correlation of early and late recurrence with clinical and pathological factors in postoperative colorectal cancer patients

Objective To compare the characteristics of clinical pathology between patients with early recurrence and those with late recurrence of colorectal cancer. Methods Clinicopathological data of 391 recurrence patients after surgery from Changhai Hospital were recruited between Jan 2005 and Dec 2015. The clinical and pathological characteristics of primary cancer in early recurrence group (less than 2 years after surgery) and late recurrence group (2 year or more after surgery) were compared. Results 246 patients had early recurrence (62.9%) and 145 had late recurrence (37.1%). Liver, systemic metastases and peritoneum were the main sites of distant recurrence in the early recurrence group, whereas liver, lung and systemic metastases were the most frequent sites of metastases in the late recurrence group. Patients with the increased tumor perimeter, lymph node metastasis, increased CEA and CA19-9, without postoperative adjuvant treatment and microsatellite stability are more likely to have early recurrence. 5-year overall survival rate for patients with early recurrence was significantly lower than those with late recurrence. Conclusions This study showed that clinical and pathological factors are significantly associated with recurrence of colorectal cancer. Two years after surgery is an important period for the recurrence of colorectal cancer. Key words: Colorectal neoplasms; Recurrence; Neoplasm metastasis; Pathology, clinical