Predictive factors for distant recurrence of colorectal cancer in patients after curative resection for stage I–III colorectal cancer in Australia

Purpose Distant recurrence is a devastating occurrence after colorectal cancer resection. This study aimed to identify the risk factors for distant recurrence following surgery. Methods All consecutive colorectal cancer resections with curative intent were included from a prospectively maintained colorectal cancer database. The primary outcome was to identify predictive factors for distant recurrence of colorectal cancer. Results A total of 670 eligible cases were identified with 88 (13.1%) developing distant recurrence during the follow-up period. The median time to distant recurrence was 1.2 years with the most common sites of distant recurrence being the lung (44.3%) and liver (44.3%). Predictive factors for distant recurrence in colon cancer included a high tumor, nodal, and overall stage of the primary cancer ( p