Abstract: Objective: To investigate the clinicopathologic factors relating to recurrence following curative surgery for colorectal cancer. Method: The clinicopathologic data of 120 cases with early recurrence within one year and 72 cases without recurrence within three years from 1996 to 2006 were retrospectively analyzed by χ² and logistic regression methods. Results: χ² analysis showed that tumor localization, lymph node metastases status, post-operative adjuvant chemotherapy, the Dukes′ stage and the depth of invasion of the bowel wall were all significantly different between the two groups. Univariate analysis also showed that the lymph node metastasis, depth of bowel wall invasion, histological differentiation and associated adjuvant chemotherapy after operation were significantly associated with recurrence and metastasis of operation. Multivariate analysis showed that lymph node metastasis and depth of bowel wall invasion were risk factors for recurrence and metastasis. Conclusion: Lymph node metastasis and depth of bowel wall invasion are important prognostic factors for recurrence and metastasis after colorectal cancer surgery.

Key words: Colorectal neoplasms, Neoplasms recurrence, Neoplasms metastasis, Regression analysis