Prevalence of Local Recurrence of Colorectal Cancer at the Iranian Cancer Institute

Background: Although a great deal of progress has been made in the management of colorectal cancer interms of neoadjuvant modalities, surgical techniques and adjuvant therapies, the recurrence of tumors remainsan enigmatic complication in patients. A better understanding of colorectal cancer and of factors that lead torecurrence of disease can provide helpful information for designing more effective screening and surveillancemethods. Aim: To investigate the factors that may lead to local recurrence of colorectal cancers. Materials and
Methods: The current retrospective case study evaluated 617 patients admitted to the Iranian Cancer Institute(the largest referral cancer center in the country) from 1995 to 2009 with confirmed colorectal cancer. Patientswith distant metastasis, or with pathology other than adenocarcinoma and no follow-up, were excluded (175patients). The remainder (442) included 294 (66.5%) with rectal cancer and 148 (33.5%) with colon cancer.The median duration of follow-up was 26 months.
Results: The total rate of recurrence was 17.4%, comprising19.6% and 16.3% recurrence rates in colon and rectal cancer, respectively.
Conclusions: Recurrence of colorectalcancer was significantly correlated to tumor grade (p<0.008).