Table 4.
Histological characteristics of patients with proximal and distal rectal cancer
| Histological criteria | Proximal rectal cancer (100) | Distal rectal cancer (118) |
| Differentiation1 | ||
| Well | 21 (21) | 17 (14) |
| Moderate | 69 (69) | 83 (70) |
| Poor | 8 (8) | 10 (9) |
| Presence of mucin | ||
| Mucinous | 5 (5) | 9 (8) |
| Signet ring | 0 (0) | 1 (1) |
| Tumour stage2 | ||
| T1 | 9 (9) | 8 (7) |
| T2 | 20 (20) | 28 (24) |
| T3 | 57 (57) | 66 (56) |
| T4 | 14 (14) | 16 (14) |
| Node stage3 | ||
| N0 | 58 (58) | 58 (49) |
| N1 | 15 (15) | 30 (25) |
| N2 | 21 (21) | 28 (24) |
| N3 | 3 (3) | 0 (0) |
1
Degree of differentiation not included in 10 patients (proximal rectal cancer 2 and distal rectal cancer 8) who showed complete tumour regression following pre operative chemoradiation;
2
Reported T stage in those having neo-adjuvant therapy is stage before chemoradiation;
3
Data regarding 5 patients have been withheld because either < 12 nodes were reported (n = 2) or no nodes were found after pre-operative chemoradiation (n = 3).