Can time until recurrence predict survival in patients with colorectal cancer?

This study assessed the possibility of using early recurrence to foretell survival (life expectancy) in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) treated with curative surgery.

Curative surgery is surgery that attempts at removing all the cancer and a small amount of healthy tissue around the cancer. For localized colorectal cancer (cancer that is confined to the large intestine), curative surgery can be used as a primary (first) treatment. Some patients can receive additional therapies such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy to kill whatever cancer cells were missed during surgery (adjuvant treatments). However, some patients with colorectal cancer often experience cancer recurrence (return of the cancer) after curative surgery. Cancer that returns in less than 1 year of surgery is classified as early recurrence. This study evaluated the association between early recurrence and patients’ survival.

This study involved 1,159 colorectal cancer patients who had been treated with curative surgery between 1998 and 2007. Depending on the health status of these patients, 815 received adjuvant treatments (741 received chemotherapy and 74 received radiotherapy). Of all patients, 280 (24.1%) experienced cancer recurrence. 34.29% of these 280 had an early recurrence. Early recurrence was more common in patients with colon cancer, those whose cancer was larger than 5 cm or had more lymph nodes involved. Results showed that patients with early recurrence had reduced overall survival (reduced life expectancy) compared to patients whose cancer returned more than 1 year after surgery. This was particularly true for patients with stage III colorectal cancer.

In summary, early return of cancer after curative surgery was associated with reduced survival rates in patients with colorectal cancer. Therefore, early recurrence can be used as a tool to predict survival for these patients so additional therapies can be considered to improve their outcomes.

This study was based on hospital records, so the validity of the pathological findings could not be determined. Any errors could significantly influence the results of the study.