Factors Predicting Recurrence After Curative Resection for Rectal Cancer: a 16-year Study

Colorectal cancer is one of the most frequently diagnosed cancers and a major cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Recurrence after curative surgery is one of the major factors affecting the long-term survival and its frequency is estimated to be 22.5% at 5 years. of which 12% have local recurrence. The overall survival in case of recurrence of 11% at 5 years.

Several patient-, tumor-related and treatment-related prognostic factors have been found to be associated with the risk of recurrence of rectal adenocarcinoma. Some of these factors such as TNM stage, lymphatic and perineural invasion and vascular emboli have been found to affect recurrence free survival in most studies. While the impact of other factors such as distal resection margin, tumor size, extra capsular spread and neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy on recurrence remains controversial. Moreover, most of the previous studies on prognostic factors have been from American and European countries with very little data from African countries. Recognition of these factors helps in identification of high-risk patients who require close and more rigorous postoperative surveillance. Hence this study was conducted to determine the factors affecting recurrence after curative resection of rectal cancer in African population.