Pathologic factors associated with prognosis after adjuvant chemotherapy in stage II/III microsatellite-unstable colorectal cancers

Abstract

Background: Although there are controversies regarding the benefit of fluoropyrimidine-based adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) colorectal cancer (CRC), the pathologic features affecting postchemotherapeutic prognosis in these patients have not been fully identified yet. Methods: A total of 26 histopathologic and immunohistochemical factors were comprehensively evaluated in 125 stage II or III MSI-H CRC patients who underwent curative resection followed by fluoropyrimidine-based adjuvant chemotherapy. We statistically analyzed the associations of these factors with disease-free survival (DFS). Results: Using a Kaplan- Meier analysis with log-rank test, we determined that ulceroinfiltrative gross type (p=.003), pT4 (p