Table 2.
Characteristics of 551 patients with synchronous and metachronous metastases
| Synchronous (n = 296) | Early metachronous (n = 94) | Late metachronous (n = 161) | P † | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years) * | 68·7(11·6) | 70·6(12·0) | 67·8(11·0) | 0·171‡ |
| Age group | 0·076 | |||
| < 65 | 107 (36·1) | 28 (30) | 57 (35·4) | |
| 65–75 | 92 (31·1) | 26 (28) | 62 (38·5) | |
| > 75 | 97 (32·8) | 40 (43) | 42 (26·1) | |
| Male sex | 158 (53·4) | 52 (55) | 88 (54·7) | 0·933 |
| Primary tumour site | 0·532 | |||
| Colon | 194 (65·5) | 60 (64) | 97 (60·2) | |
| Rectum | 102 (34·5) | 34 (36) | 64 (39·8) | |
| Side of colon | 0·488 | |||
| Right | 114 (58·8) | 40 (67) | 56 (58) | |
| Left | 80 (41·2) | 20 (33) | 41 (42) | |
| UICC tumour stage | < 0·001 | |||
| I | 0 (0) | 8 (9) | 26 (16·1) | 0·054§ |
| II | 0 (0) | 22 (23) | 49 (30·4) | |
| III | 0 (0) | 64 (68) | 86 (53·4) | |
| IV | 296 (100) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | |
| Most common metastatic site at presentation | ||||
| Liver | 240 (81·1) | 51 (54) | 83 (51·6) | < 0·001 |
| Lung | 89 (30·1) | 29 (31) | 66 (41·0) | 0·052 |
| Intra‐abdominal, extrahepatic | 76 (25·7) | 54 (57) | 63 (39·1) | < 0·001 |
| Bone | 3 (1·0) | 4 (4) | 5 (3·1) | 0·109 |
| Brain | 5 (1·7) | 4 (4) | 5 (3·1) | 0·335 |
| Size of largest liver metastasis (cm) | 0·015 | |||
| < 5 | 157 (65·4) | 37 (73) | 65 (78) | |
| ≥ 5 | 78 (32·5) | 10 (20) | 17 (20) | |
| Missing | 5 (2·1) | 4 (8) | 1 (1) | |
| No. of liver metastases | < 0·001 | |||
| 1 | 40 (16·7) | 16 (31) | 37 (45) | |
| 2–3 | 62 (25·8) | 15 (29) | 30 (36) | |
| > 4 | 133 (55·4) | 16 (31) | 15 (18) | |
| Missing | 5 (2·1) | 4 (8) | 1 (1) | |
| Pattern of distant metastasis at diagnosis | < 0·001 | |||
| Liver only | 148 (50·0) | 25 (27) | 52 (32·3) | |
| Lung only | 20 (6·8) | 7 (7) | 34 (21·1) | |
| Liver and lung | 52 (17·6) | 8 (9) | 12 (7·5) | |
| Liver and extrahepatic (no lung) | 30 (10·1) | 13 (14) | 13 (8·1) | |
| Lung and extrahepatic (no liver) | 7 (2·4) | 9 (10) | 14 (8·7) | |
| Liver, lung and extrahepatic | 10 (3·4) | 5 (5) | 6 (3·7) | |
| Extrahepatic only | 29 (9·8) | 27 (29) | 30 (18·6) | |
| Resection of primary tumour | 169 (57·1) | 94 (100) | 161 (100) | < 0·001 |
| Metastasectomy | 0·007 | |||
| No | 248 (83·8) | 78 (83) | 116 (72·0) | 0·048§ |
| Yes | 48 (16·2) | 16 (17) | 45 (28·0) | |
| Liver resection | 44 of 240 (18·3) | 15 of 51 (29) | 31 of 83 (37) | 0·003 |
| Lung resection | 12 of 89 (13) | 6 of 29 (21) | 17 of 66 (26) | 0·025 |
| Extrahepatic, intra‐abdominal resection | 1 of 76 (1) | 2 of 54 (4) | 1 of 63 (2) | 0·392 |
Values in parentheses are percentages unless indicated otherwise;
*
values are mean(s.d.).
†
χ2 or Fisher's exact test, except
‡
Student's t test (synchronous versus metachronous metastases) and
§
χ2 or Fisher's exact test (early versus late metachronous metastases).