Lack of CD44 variant 6 expression in rectal cancer invasive front associates with early recurrence

Table 1 Clinical characteristics of the patients n (%)

Clinical characteristics	Short course RT	Long course RT	Control	P1
Study population (n = 214)
Male	57 (63)	34 (64)	32 (45)	0.03
Female	33 (37)	19 (36)	39 (55)
Mean age (yr)	65.2	64.7	74.5	< 0.001
Preoperative T
T1-2	28 (31)	0 (0)	22 (31)
T3	54 (60)	2 (4)	12 (17)	< 0.001
2T4	1 (1)	50 (94)	3 (4)
Tx	7 (8)	1 (2)	34 (48)
Postoperative T
T1	3 (3)	2 (4)	5 (7)
T2	34 (38)	6 (11)	26 (37)
T3	50 (56)	27 (51)	37 (52)	< 0.001
T4	3 (3)	14 (26)	3 (4)
T0	0	4 (8)	0
Postoperative N
N0	53 (59)	36 (68)	41 (58)
N1	26 (29)	14 (26)	15 (21)	0.33
N2	11 (12)	3 (6)	12 (17)
Nx	0	0	3 (4)
Grade
G1	9 (10)	10 (19)	12 (17)
G2	58 (64)	33 (62)	48 (68)	0.07
G3	21 (23)	3 (6)	11 (16)
Gx	2 (2)	7 (13)	0
3Crm (mm)
0	3 (4)	11 (25)	4 (9)
0 ≤ crm ≤ 2	9 (12)	7 (16)	7 (16)	0.009
> 2	65 (84)	26 (59)	32 (74)
Disease specific outcome
Alive without recurrence	64 (71)	25 (47)	39 (55)
Alive with recurrence	7 (8)	7 (13)	4 (6)	0.07
Died of disease	11 (12)	12 (23)	18 (25)
Died of other causes	8 (9)	9 (17)	10 (14)

¹Differences between the three treatment groups using Fisher’s exact test; mean age with analysis of variance;

²Includes the T3 tumors with threatened circumferential margin involvement;

³Circumferential margin, data available in 164 cases. RT: Radiotherapy.