Between January 1988 and December 2008, 31 patients underwent a complete resection of CRR. CRRs were divided into NR (n聽=聽23) and LR (n聽=聽8), whether pathological examination disclosed lymph node involvement or not.
No differences were found between LR and NR regarding TNM stage, primary tumour location, time interval from primary tumour resection to CRR, number of metastatic sites, number of metastatic lesions and therapeutic management. The median preoperative CEA level was higher in the NR group (p聽=聽0.003). After a median follow-up of 47 months NRs were associated with better overall survival (OS) (p聽=聽0.03). Three-year OS and disease-free survival (DFS) in the LR and NR groups were 27%and 0%versus 81%and 26%, respectively. Twenty-seven (87%) patients developed a re-recurrence within a median interval of 15 months. The number of metastatic sites or lesions, the size of the CRR, the type of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, the interval between the primary resection and CRR and the TNM stage had no impact on OS.
LR in patients with CRR had a poorer prognosis than NR. A multimodality approach with complete resection may yield long-term survival for NR.