Background: To date, the prognostic significance of acellular mucin pools in tumors from patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) undergoing preoperative chemoradiotherapy (CRT) and subsequently obtaining pathological complete response (pCR) has not been well determined. Our current study aimed to explore the prognostic impact on these patients of acellular mucin pools. Methods: We collected clinical data from 117 consecutive LARC patients who achieved pCR after preoperative CRT and then underwent radical resection. Two groups of patients were generated, according to the presence or absence of acellular mucin pools. The 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) rates were compared between the two groups of patients. Results: A total of 27 (23.1%) patients presented with acellular mucin pools. At a median follow-up period of 64 months, patients with acellular mucin pool showed a 5-year DFS rate (96.3% versus 83.7%, p = 0.110) and 5-year OS rate (100% versus 87.5%, p = 0.054) statistically similar to those of patients without acellular mucin pools. In univariable and multivariable Cox regression analyses, the presence of acellular mucin pools was not determined as an independent risk factor for DFS [hazard ratio (HR): 0.222; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.029–1.864; p = 0.145] or OS (HR: 0.033; 95% CI: 0.000–9.620; p = 0.238). Conclusions: Acellular mucin pools had no significant prognostic impact on LARC patients showing pCR after preoperative CRT.

Background Local recurrence of primary retroperitoneal sarcoma (RPS) is one of the major causes of treatment failure and death. We attempted to assess the effects of time to local recurrence (TLR) on the survival after recurrence (SAR) and overall survival (OS) of RPS. Methods Included in this study were 224 patients who underwent R0 resection for primary RPS at our institution between January 2000 and December 2020, 118 of whom had local recurrence. Based on the median TLR (19.8 months), patients were divided into two groups: early local recurrence (ELR < 20 months) and late local recurrence (LLR > 20 months). The Kaplan–Meier method was employed to calculate the local recurrence-free survival (LRFS), SAR and OS. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to explore the prognostic value of TLR. Results The median follow-up time was 60.5 months for the entire cohort and 58.5 months for the recurrence cohort. There were 60 (50.8%) patients in the ELR group and 58 (49.2%) in the LLR group. The ELR group exhibited a worse SAR (29.2 months vs. 73.4 months, P < 0.001), OS (41.8 months vs. 120.9 months, P < 0.001), and a lower 5-year OS rate (35.9% vs. 73.2%, P = 0.004) than the LLR group. Furthermore, multivariate analysis indicated that TLR was an independent prognostic indicator for SAR (P = 0.014) and OS (P < 0.001). Conclusions In patients with RPS, ELR after R0 resection presents adverse effects on OS and SAR than those with LLR, and TLR could serve as a promising predictor for OS and SAR.