Clinical significance of tumor pathology for postoperative survival of patients undergoing surgery for stage IV colorectal cancer.

Uni- and multivariate analyses were performed in order to assess the most valuable clinical features that were associated with the overall survival of 169 patients who underwent surgery for stage IV colorectal cancer (CRC). Univariate analyses demonstrated that tumor pathology (other/tub1, 2), the proportion of neutrophils and lymphocytes, serum level of C-reactive protein and albumin, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio, and intraoperative bleeding volume were associated with overall survival. Multivariate analysis using these seven selected features disclosed that only tumor pathology was associated with the overall survival (p<0.001). In addition, tumor pathology was able to divide not only the patients as a whole (p<0.001), but also both patients with stage IVa (p=0.007) and IVb (p=0.007), into two groups for overall survival, respectively. Tumor pathology is not only associated with the overall survival but is also able to divide both patients as a whole and those sub-classified by stage, into two independent groups before surgery.