No abstract

The purpose of tumour staging for colorectal cancer (CRC) is to help define clinical management, facilitate communication between physicians, provide a basis for stratification and analysis of treatment results in prospective studies, and provide some prognostic information for patients and their families. The World Congresses of Gastroenterology, Digestive Endoscopy, and Coloproctology, Working Party on staging for CRC studied six commonly used systems to review their strengths and weaknesses. Although it was concluded that defining a new staging system was unnecessary, it was recognized that there is a need to define a terminology to describe the full anatomic extent of spread of CRC. Furthermore, we note that there are several additional features, derived from both clinical and pathology information, which have had prognostic significance shown by appropriately constructed multivariate analyses and which can be used to formulate a more accurate prognostic index than that provided by a description of anatomical tumour spread. Thus the Working Party came to two principal conclusions. First, a standard format should be adopted for the collection of the essential data required for prospective studies, and we recommend the 'International Documentation System (IDS) for CRC' for this purpose. Second, a nomenclature which describes the full anatomical extent of tumour spread and residual tumour status in CRC has been defined and should be adopted, from which all currently used staging systems can be derived. We have called this nomenclature the 'International Comprehensive Anatomical Terminology (ICAT) for CRC'. In the event that these recommendations are adopted, we envision that there will be improved clarity in the documentation of treatment outcome for patients with CRC and improved communication of results derived from prospective studies. Furthermore, an acceptance of IDS and ICAT would set the scene to develop a prognostic index for individual patients with CRC by the expansion of anatomical clinicopathology staging information to include additional factors which have independent prognostic significance.

Of 4583 patients in the Large Bowel Cancer Project, 713 (16 per cent) were obstructed. The site of greatest risk was the splenic flexure (49 per cent). Advanced stage was neither the full reason why some patients obstructed nor for their subsequent poor prospects (age-adjusted 5-year survival: not obstructed, 45 per cent; obstructed, 25 per cent). Also, there was no greater risk of vascular invasion, no heavier lymph node burden and no worse tumour differentiation in patients with obstruction. In-hospital mortality was high (23 per cent), was not reduced by either a policy of primary or staged resection and was not influenced by the site of obstruction. There was no survival advantage for either policy, but hospital stay after primary resection was half that of staged. Immediate anastomosis in the obstructed left colon had a high clinical leak rate (18 per cent versus 6 per cent elective; P less than 0.001). Both registrars and consultants had similar mortality rates for elective primary resection and for the management of obstruction itself (as evidenced by results after the first stage of a staged resection). Selection probably accounts for the very much better results achieved by consultants for primary resection in the presence of obstruction (in-hospital mortality: consultants, 13 per cent; registrars, 24 per cent).

Treating women who have autoantibodies and recurrent fetal loss with prednisone and aspirin is not effective in promoting live birth, and it increases the risk of prematurity.

The Large Bowel Cancer Project is a collaborative prospective study of 4228 patients with a histologically proven adenocarcinoma, of whom 2336 (55 per cent) survived a 'curative' resection. Follow-up information is available on 2220 patients (95 per cent). Subsequently, 309 (14 per cent) have developed a local recurrence confirmed by: biopsy (127; 41 per cent), clinical examination (77; 25 per cent), X-ray (15; 5 per cent), a raised CEA (2; 1 per cent), or some other method - e.g. CT scan or a confident unbiopsied laparotomy finding (88; 29 per cent). Statistically significant factors (chi2 test, P less than 0.05) associated with local recurrence are: Dukes' classification: A 4 per cent; B 13 per cent; C 18 per cent Tumour differentiation: Well 11 per cent; Moderate 14 per cent; Poor 21 per cent Obstruction: Absent 13 per cent; Present 21 per cent Perforation: Absent 13 per cent; Present 28 per cent Tumour mobility: Freely mobile 11 per cent; Others 21 per cent Operation performed (rectal and rectosigmoid tumours): Abdomino-perineal 12 per cent; Anterior resection 18 per cent; Surgeon (Consultant only): Range less than 5 per cent to greater than 20 per cent. Stratification of the above variables altered only the statistical significance pertaining to tumour differentiation (P less than 0.1, d.f. = 2). In particular, the differences between Consultant surgeons remained.

Summary and conclusionsClinically evident anastomotic dehiscence was studied in 1466 patients who had undergone resection of a largebowel adenocarcinoma. The overall incidence of anastomotic leakage was 13%, but the incidence varied between surgeons (range 0-5% to over 30%). Morbidity and mortality were significantly higher in those patients in whom the anastomosis failed to heal primarily.If these results are extrapolated to the national level, it should be possible by achieving results closer to those in patients without leakage to reduce overall postoperative mortality after resection of large-bowel cancer by 2% and to achieve an appreciable reduction in morbidity.4 Both factors are clinically important and, taken together, could result in appreciable saving of revenue.

SUMMARY A review of histopathology reports on 2046 patients in the large bowel cancer project showed considerable observer variation in histological grading, Dukes staging, and lymph node harvest. These parameters have a well-established relationship to prognosis, but, if they are to be applied for both clinical and research purposes, they must be assessed consistently. A minimal level of information which should be recorded from a resection specimen is suggested, with a description of the methods by which this information can be obtained.The large bowel cancer project was initiated in 1976, and currently specimens are sent to the 22 histopathology departments from the 84 participating surgeons. Although many departments have more than one histopathologist to deal with these specimens, they have been treated as 22 observers for this analysis.The objective of this part of the study was to assess the consistency of reports on the histopathology of the resected specimens. We anticipated that there might be considerable observer variation in histological grading, which is a subjective process, but we did not expect significant differences in the staging of local tumour spread, which is an objective assessment with sharp delineation between subgroups, or in lymph node harvest. We report here the results on 2046 resected tumours. We found clinically important and statistically significant differences between histopathology departments in the reporting of these specimens. Differences between hospitals have been calculated using the x2 test for independent samples. (Fig. 1). The difference between observers was statistically significant (p < 0-001). Some lack of uniformity is inevitable in grading, but the order of difference shown can be due only to different techniques of assessment. In the present study of 2046 specimens 26 0 were well, 58% moderately, and 16% poorly differentiated;however, the proportion placed in each grade by the different observers varied widely: well-differentiated 3-93 %, moderately 8-82 %, and poorly 5-30 %

To demonstrate any difference in outcome between patients with carcinoma at various sites within the large bowel, analysis of a large number of patients is necessary. From the Large Bowel Cancer Project, 4292 patients have been evaluated to compare mode of presentation, surgical management, pathological findings and outcome. Carcinoma at the splenic flexure was associated with the highest risk of obstruction (49 per cent); postoperative cardiopulmonary complications (36 per cent); in-hospital mortality (18 per cent); and the lowest age-adjusted 5-year survival (28 per cent), even after curative resection (38 per cent). This survival disadvantage was seen even in those without obstruction. Further, it was not accounted for by differences in age, sex, Dukes' stage or tumour differentiation between the various sites as stratification by these variables failed to alter significance (log rank chi 2 = 11.1; d.f. = 4; P less than 0.05). Compared with carcinoma of the left colon and rectum, tumours in the right colon were more likely to be poorly differentiated and locally advanced (in terms of fixation and penetration of the bowel wall) but were not associated with a higher risk of either distant spread at presentation or local recurrence. Age-adjusted 5-year survival following curative surgery was higher for the right colon (65 per cent) than the left (59 per cent).