Comparison of colon and rectum cancer: survival and prognostic factors

Aim: This study aims to investigate some clinical and pathologic factors associated with the prognosis of patients with colon and rectum cancers separately. Background: Colorectal cancer is the most common cancer of the digestive system and also the fourth cause of cancerrelateddeaths around the world. Different studies indicate that survival of patients with colorectal cancer has improved in some areas of the world. However, it remains unclear which factors are involved in this improvement. Patients and methods: Data for 1194 patients with colorectal cancer registered in the Cancer Registry Center of the Research Center of Gastroenterology and Liver Disease, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences were used in this study. Data analysis was performed using competing risks model. Software used for data analysis included STATA, Version11, and significance level was regarded as p 0.05. Results: Body mass index (BMI), alcohol consumption, tumor site, inflammatory bowel disease, metastasis to lymph nodes and distant metastasis had a significant effect on death from colon cancer, while body mass index, distant metastasis and type of the first treatment had a significant effect (p 0.05) on death from rectum cancer. Also, mediansurvival was 7.75 ± 1.118 and 3.917 ± 0.26 years for patients with colon cancer and rectum cancer, respectively. Conclusion: According to the results of this study, some variables may have a different impact on colon and rectum carcinoma; therefore, the effects of these factors on different parts of the large bowel must be considered separately in future studies.