TY - JOUR
T1 - Lymph node status after neoadjuvant radiotherapy for rectal cancer is a biologic predictor of outcome
AU - Chang, George J.
AU - Rodriguez-Bigas, Miguel A.
AU - Eng, Cathy
AU - Skibber, John M.
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2009/1/12
Y1 - 2009/1/12
N2 - BACKGROUND: Lymph node (LN) status after surgery for rectal cancer is affected by preoperative radiotherapy. The purpose of this study was to perform a population-based evaluation of the impact of pathologic LN status (ypN) after neoadjuvant radiotherapy on survival. METHODS: Patients undergoing radical resection for rectal adenocarcinoma were identified from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results registry (1991-2004). Patient characteristics, overall survival, and cancer-specific survival (CSS) by ypN stage after surgery and use of preoperative or postoperative radiotherapy were compared. RESULTS: Of the 23,809 patients identified, 12,513 received preoperative (n = 5367) or postoperative (n = 7146) radiotherapy and resection. Preoperative patients were more likely to be younger (P < .001) and histopathologically free of detectable nodal metastasis (ypN0) than postoperative (51.8% vs 31.7%, P < .001). Median total numbers of LNs (6 vs 10) and positive LNs (2 vs 3) were lower among preoperative than postoperative (P < .001 for both). OS and CSS were similar among pN0 patients. However, on proportional hazards regression, ypN+ stage was associated with an increase in relative risk for death by 21% overall (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.21; 95% confidence interval 1.09-1.35, P < .001) and 23% cancer-specific (HR = 1.23; P = .001) for preoperative compared with postoperative. CONCLUSIONS: Pathologic LN status after neoadjuvant radiotherapy for rectal cancer is a biologic marker of prognosis. Patients who are ypN+ after preoperative are a subgroup of LN positive patients with adverse outcome. These high-risk patients should be targeted for studies of novel multidisciplinary approaches, including expanded chemo- and biologic therapies.
AB - BACKGROUND: Lymph node (LN) status after surgery for rectal cancer is affected by preoperative radiotherapy. The purpose of this study was to perform a population-based evaluation of the impact of pathologic LN status (ypN) after neoadjuvant radiotherapy on survival. METHODS: Patients undergoing radical resection for rectal adenocarcinoma were identified from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results registry (1991-2004). Patient characteristics, overall survival, and cancer-specific survival (CSS) by ypN stage after surgery and use of preoperative or postoperative radiotherapy were compared. RESULTS: Of the 23,809 patients identified, 12,513 received preoperative (n = 5367) or postoperative (n = 7146) radiotherapy and resection. Preoperative patients were more likely to be younger (P < .001) and histopathologically free of detectable nodal metastasis (ypN0) than postoperative (51.8% vs 31.7%, P < .001). Median total numbers of LNs (6 vs 10) and positive LNs (2 vs 3) were lower among preoperative than postoperative (P < .001 for both). OS and CSS were similar among pN0 patients. However, on proportional hazards regression, ypN+ stage was associated with an increase in relative risk for death by 21% overall (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.21; 95% confidence interval 1.09-1.35, P < .001) and 23% cancer-specific (HR = 1.23; P = .001) for preoperative compared with postoperative. CONCLUSIONS: Pathologic LN status after neoadjuvant radiotherapy for rectal cancer is a biologic marker of prognosis. Patients who are ypN+ after preoperative are a subgroup of LN positive patients with adverse outcome. These high-risk patients should be targeted for studies of novel multidisciplinary approaches, including expanded chemo- and biologic therapies.
KW - (MeSH): Rectal neoplasms
KW - Adjuvant chemotherapy
KW - Adjuvant radiotherapy
KW - Neoadjuvant radiotherapy
KW - SEER program
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U2 - 10.1002/cncr.24622
DO - 10.1002/cncr.24622
M3 - Article
C2 - 19673001
AN - SCOPUS:72249098733
SN - 0008-543X
VL - 115
SP - 5432
EP - 5440
JO - Cancer
JF - Cancer
IS - 23
ER -