Table 3.

Treatment regimen and colostomy information for the first year following rectal cancer diagnosis in 2000–2001; Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)–Medicare and Veneto–Tuscany Cancer Registry (VTCR)*

	All cases (stages I–IV)				Stage I				Stage II				Stage III				Stage IV
	SEER– Medicare (n = 4532)		VTCR (n = 409)		SEER– Medicare (n = 1758)		VTCR (n = 87)		SEER– Medicare (n = 1169)		VTCR (n = 114)		SEER– Medicare (n = 1033)		VTCR (n = 111)		SEER– Medicare (n = 572)		VTCR (n = 97)
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Patients receiving surgery within a year from diagnosis	3717	82	379	93	1348	77	83	95	1055	90	112	98	973	94	110	99	341	60	74	76
Patients receiving neoadjuvant therapy before surgery (% of patients with surgery)	486	13	58	15	149	11	11	13	183	17	20	18	116	12	16	15	38	11	11	15
Chemotherapy only	4	0	1	0	1	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Radiation therapy only	74	2	18	5	26	2	2	2	25	2	9	8	17	2	2	2	6	2	5	7
Chemo + radiation therapy	389	11	39	10	116	9	8	10	153	15	11	10	93	10	14	13	27	8	6	8
Patients receiving adjuvant (after surgery) therapy (% of patients with surgery)	1596	43	142	37	227	17	7	9	477	45	33	29	670	69	56	51	222	66	46	62
Chemotherapy only	695	19	98	26	79	6	3	4	165	15	19	17	275	28	40	36	176	52	36	49
Radiation therapy only	197	5	20	5	66	5	4	5	74	7	9	8	44	5	3	3	13	4	4	5
Chemo + radiation therapy	704	19	24	6	82	6	0	0	238	23	5	4	351	36	13	12	33	10	6	8
Patients without surgery (% of total patients)	815	18	33	7	410	23	4	5	114	10	2	2	60	6	1	1	231	40	23	24
Chemotherapy only	49	1	1	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	42	7	1	1
Radiation therapy only	91	2	5	1	28	2	0	0	22	2	0	0	11	1	0	0	30	5	5	5
Chemo + radiation therapy	167	4	4	1	48	3	0	0	38	3	0	0	17	2	0	0	64	11	4	4
None	508	11	20	5	329	18	4	5	54	5	2	2	30	3	1	1	95	17	13	14
Patients receiving a colostomy in the initial surgery (% of patients with surgery)	1285	28	124	30	321	18	21	24	417	36	42	37	387	37	31	28	160	28	30	31