CLINICOPATHOROGICAL FACTORS AFFECTING THE CUMULATIVE 5-YEAR SURVIVAL RATE OF COLON CANCERS AFTER SURGERY

To analyze prognostic factors for colon cancers, clinicopathological factors affecting the postoperative cumulative 5-year survival rate were investigated in patients with a single advanced conon cancer from 1977 to 1990. Sex, age and laboratory data, values of Hb and CEA were chosen as clinical factors, and various items written in General Rules for Clinical and Pathological Studies on Cancer of Colon, Rectum and Anus, were also employed as pathological factors. The 5-year survival rate was significantly and strongly correlated with value of serum CEA (p<0.005) as a clinical factor, tumor appearance, N• S-factors and Dukes stage as macroscopically pathological factors, and cancer depth and microinvasion (n and v) as histopathological factors. When the prognosis was studied based on the difference of cancer-location, the 5-year survival rate was significantly (p<0.01) better in the left sided location than in the right sided location. The above results show that the prognosis of colon cancers relates to a difference in the invasion mode and location of the cancer, which will present further problems to be resolved concerning the diagnostic approach and biological behaviour of cancer cells.