Clinical significance of mucinous components in rectal cancer after preoperative chemoradiotherapy

Purpose The clinical implications of mucinous components in rectal tumors, especially with regard to the efficacy of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy, remain unclear. Methods One hundred and thirty rectal cancer patients who received curative resection after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were classified into 3 groups according to the proportion of extracellular mucin: low (25 %). Results There were 82 (63.1 %), 26 (20.0 %), and 22 (16.9 %) patients in the low, moderate, and high mucin groups, respectively. Patients with a high mucinous tumor component were significantly more likely to have an advanced tumor stage ( p = 0.010) and a shorter disease-free ( p = 0.002) and distant recurrence-free survivals ( p