Staging and prognosis of colorectal carcinoma

Three different systems in staging colorectal cancer (TNM3, ACPS, TNM4/Dukes) have been compared in 318 patients treated at some stage of their disease at Berne University Hospital. Simultaneously, the role of some prognostic factors for survival and relapse has been analyzed. The estimated 5 years' survival rate for all patients is 42%. After complete removal of the tumor 49% of patients relapsed. In a multivariate analysis the stage, age above 80 years and the site of the primary tumor have an influence on survival and relapse. Blood transfusions had no effect on either in this analysis. The concordance of the three staging systems is good and the resultant survival curves are similar. TNM3 puts some patients with a bad prognosis into stage I. ACPS classifies patients with residual tumor after surgery with patients with distal metastasis. It has no further advantages over TNM4. TNM4 seems at present to be the best staging system. It incorporates the advantages of the well-known Dukes classification and, with possible refinements, has the qualities to be used as a standard method.