Table 1.
Baseline demographics and cancer characteristics
| Treatment group | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristics | NAC (27) | NACRT (28) | p value |
| Age, median (range), years | 66.0 (40–79) | 68.0 (42–78) | p = 0.64* |
| Gender (male), n (%) | 17 (63%) | 16 (57%) | p = 0.79 |
| Pretreatment serum CEA level, average (range), ml/dl | 4.7 (0.9–646) | 6.2 (1.5–1244) | p = 0.26* |
| Tumor size, average (range), cm | 5.0 (2–10) | 4.9 (2–10) | p = 0.91* |
| Distance from anal verge (< 5 cm), n (%) | 17 (63%) | 19 (68%) | p = 0.78 |
| Tumor differentiation, n (%) | |||
| Well, moderate | 26 (96%) | 27 (96%) | p = 1.00 |
| Muc | 1 (3.7%) | 1 (3.6%) | |
| cT category, n (%) | |||
| pT3 | 24 (89%) | 22 (71%) | p = 0.46 |
| pT4a | 3 (11%) | 5 (18%) | |
| cN category, n (%) | |||
| pN1 | 18 (67%) | 17 (61%) | p = 0.78 |
| pN2 | 9 (33%) | 11 (39%) | |
| Operation approach (lap), n (%) | 23 (85%) | 16 (57%) | p = 0.037 |
| Operative method, n (%) | |||
| Low anterior resection | 19 (70%) | 8 (29%) | p = 0.003 |
| Abdominoperineal excision | 8 (30%) | 20 (71%) | |
| LPLN dissection (yes), n (%) | 9 (33%) | 5 (18%) | p = 0.16 |
| Postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy (yes), n (%) | 9 (33%) | 12 (43%) | p = 0.58 |
*Mann-Whitney U analysis