Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Dec 13;28(6):5356-5383.
doi: 10.3390/curroncol28060447.

Pathological Features and Prognostication in Colorectal Cancer

Kabytto Chen  1   2 , Geoffrey Collins  1   2 , Henry Wang  1   2 , James Wei Tatt Toh  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Pathological Features and Prognostication in Colorectal Cancer

Kabytto Chen et al. Curr Oncol. .

Abstract

The prognostication of colorectal cancer (CRC) has traditionally relied on staging as defined by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) TNM staging classifications. However, clinically, there appears to be differences in survival patterns independent of stage, suggesting a complex interaction of stage, pathological features, and biomarkers playing a role in guiding prognosis, risk stratification, and guiding neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapies. Histological features such as tumour budding, perineural invasion, apical lymph node involvement, lymph node yield, lymph node ratio, and molecular features such as MSI, KRAS, BRAF, and CDX2 may assist in prognostication and optimising adjuvant treatment. This study provides a comprehensive review of the pathological features and biomarkers that are important in the prognostication and treatment of CRC. We review the importance of pathological features and biomarkers that may be important in colorectal cancer based on the current evidence in the literature.

Keywords: colorectal cancer; molecular markers; pathological features; prognosis; survival.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

    1. Argiles G., Tabernero J., Labianca R., Hochhauser D., Salazar R., Iveson T., Laurent-Puig P., Quirke P., Yoshino T., Taieb J. Localised colon cancer: ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up. Ann. Oncol. 2020;31:1291–1305. doi: 10.1016/j.annonc.2020.06.022. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Schneider N.I., Langner C. Prognostic stratification of colorectal cancer patients: Current perspectives. Cancer Manag. Res. 2014;6:291. - PMC - PubMed
    1. O’Connell J.B., Maggard M.A., Ko C.Y. Colon cancer survival rates with the new American Joint Committee on Cancer sixth edition staging. J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 2004;96:1420–1425. doi: 10.1093/jnci/djh275. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Fang S.H., Efron J.E., Berho M.E., Wexner S.D. Dilemma of stage II colon cancer and decision making for adjuvant chemotherapy. J. Am. Coll. Surg. 2014;219:1056–1069. doi: 10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2014.09.010. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Zhang C., Yin S., Tan Y., Huang J., Wang P., Hou W., Zhang Z., Xu H. Patient Selection for Adjuvant Chemotherapy in High-Risk Stage II Colon Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Am. J. Clin. Oncol. 2020;43:279–287. doi: 10.1097/COC.0000000000000663. - DOI - PubMed