The clinicopathologic relevance and prognostic value of tumor deposits and the applicability of N1c category in rectal cancer with preoperative radiotherapy

Abstract

The clinicopathologic relevance and prognostic value of tumor deposits in colorectal cancer has been widely demonstrated. However, there are still debates in the prognostic value of tumor deposits and the applicability of N1c category in rectal cancer with preoperative radiotherapy. In this study, rectal cancer with preoperative radiotherapy followed by resection of primary tumors registered in Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database from 2010-2012 were analyzed. There were 4,813 cases eligible for this study, and tumor deposits were found in 514 (10.7%) cases. The presence of tumor deposits was significantly associated with some aggressive characteristics, including poorer tumor differentiation, more advanced ypT category, ypN category and ypTNM stage, distant metastasis, elevated carcinoembryonic antigen, higher positive rates of circumferential resection margin and perineural invasion (all P