A Clinicopathological Studies on 25 Patients with Poorly Differentiated Adenocarcinoma of the Colon and Rectum

Eiji Miyahara, Koji Ikejiri, Soichirou Maekawa, Yasuhiro Yoshida, Shigeru Yakabe, Motonori Saku

Department of Surgery, National Fukuoka Central Hospital

During the past 11 years, 600 patients with colorectal carcinoma were treated in our surgical department. Twenty-five of the cancers, which accounted for 4.2% of our series, were diagnosed as poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. The clinicopathological features of these poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma were investigated. The poorly differentiated adenocarcinomas had a stronger tendency to deeply invade the bowel wall, submucosal venulae and lymph ducts, than the well- and moderately differentiated adenocarcinomas. The cumulative 5-year survival rate for patients with poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma was 18.6%, which compared unfavorably with the rates of 73.1% and 49.5% for well- and moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma respectively. Furthermore, the 5-year survival rates for patients with stages II and III of poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma were significantly lower than for those with well- and moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma. These lower survival rates for patients with poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma were believed to be caused by not only the severely advanced clinical stage at the time of the operation but also by the biological and cytological malignancy in itself.

Key words
poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma, colorectal cancer

Reprint requests
Eiji Miyahara Department of Surgery, Research Institute for Nucleor Medicine, and Biology
1-2-3 Kasumi-cho, Minami-ku, Hiroshima, 734 JAPAN

Accepted
March 11, 1992

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