Adjuvant therapy sparing in rectal cancer achieving complete response after chemoradiation

Table 1 Descriptive baseline statistics by type of response achieved

Variable	Complete1	Intermediate2	Poor3	P value
	(n = 26)	(n = 47)	(n = 97)
Age, yr	65.5 (39.9-84.9)	65.7 (42.9-84.0)	65.5 (41.3-83.5)	0.8407
Female	11 (42)	14 (30)	29 (30)	0.4551
CEA4				0.0122
< 3.6 μg/L	21 (81)	26 (55)	47 (49)
3.6-20.9 μg/L	5 (19)	20 (43)	41 (42)
> 20.9 μg/L	0	0	9 (9)
Presurgical hemoglobin, g/dL	13.1 (9.2-16.0)	14.0 (7.9-18.2)	13.4 (7.6-18.4)	0.0580
Clinical stage				0.1325
cT2N0	0	25 (4)	0 (0)
cT2N1	0	3 (6)	3 (3)
cT3N0	11 (42)	21 (45)	38 (39)
cT3N1	14 (54)	14 (30)	38 (39)
cT4N0	1 (4)	0 (0)	2 (2)
cT4N1	0	0	3 (3)
Severe stenosis precluding staging	0	7 (15)	13 (13)
Distance from tumor to anal margin, cm	7.0 (2.0-12.0)	5.0 (1.0-15.0)	8.0 (1.0-15.0)	0.0697
Previous abdominal surgery	14 (54)	16 (34)	39 (40)	0.2546
Type of surgery				0.5368
APR or miles intervention	4 (15)	8 (17)	23 (24)
Low-anterior resection	21 (81)	33 (70)	65 (67)
Other	1 (4)	6 (13)	9 (9)
Laparoscopic vs open surgery				0.1748
Fully laparoscopic	25 (96)	42 (89)	77 (79)
Intraoperative conversion to open	1 (4)	4 (9)	12 (12)
Open from the beginning	0	1 (2)	8 (8)
Hospital stay, d	5.0 (3.0-16.0)	6.5 (4-55)	7 (2-145)	0.0164
Number of lymph nodes resected	11 (1-27)	10 (1-33)	12 (1-29)	0.3768
Patients with ≥ 12 lymph nodes resected	12 (46)	20 (43)	49 (51)	0.6600
Involvement of radial margin				< 0.0001
No	26 (100)	44 (94)	62 (64)
Yes	0	0	15 (16)
Not assessed	0	3 (6)	20 (21)

Values are presented as n (%) or median (range), unless otherwise indicated.

¹ypT0N0;

²ypT1-2N0;

³ypT3-4N1-2;

⁴This variable has one missing value;

⁵Although cT2N0 staging was considered an exclusion criterion, these tumors were located in the low rectum and we considered the risk of local relapse without neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy too high. APR: Abdominoperineal resection; CEA: Carcinoembryonic antigen.