Prognosis of T0 and T1 Colorectal Cancer Following Surgical Resection

Purpose. The aim of this study was to analyze the lymph node metastasis status and prognosis in patients with T1 colorectal cancer treated by curative surgery. In addition, differences in survival between patients with T0 and T1 colorectal cancer were analyzed. Methods. Cases of T0 and T1 colorectal adenocarcinoma treated by curative surgical resection between January 2001 and December 2013 at the National Taiwan University Hospital were identified. In total, 66 patients with T0 and 137 patients with T1 colorectal adenocarcinoma were included and the clinicopathologic data were reviewed. Results. The rate of lymph node metastasis among cases of T1 colorectal cancer was 11.38%. There were no cases of lymph node metastasis in the T0 group. The risk of lymph node metastasis was significantly higher in poorly differentiated versus well-differentiated and moderately differentiated cancer (p=0.0231). No statistically significant differences in longterm overall survival were observed in T1 colorectal cancer patients with negative versus positive lymph node status (p=0.6144). Conclusions. The outcome was excellent in T1 colorectal cancer patients who received radical surgical treatment, even in those patients with lymph node metastasis. In addition, there was no difference in the long-term overall survival between the T0 and T1 colorectal cancer patients.