RESUMO
Objective To investigate the differentiation of neuroendocrine component (NEC) in colorectal adenocarcinoma in relation to its significance by comparing the outcome between patients with or without NEC.Methods The paraffin sections from patients with pathologically confirmed colorectal adenocarcinoma were retrospectively collected and screened for those with NEC by morphological examination and immunohistochemistry with neuroendocrine markers.Control patients (n=54) without NEC were selected from colorectal cancer database and 2: 1 matched on the basis of clinical features with NEC positive patients (n=27).Relative analysis was performed between two groups.Results With a median follow-up of 72 months,the 5-year disease free survival was 58.0% (16/27) in NEC positive group and 79.1% (43/54) in control group (P=0.036).Similarly,the 5-year cancer-specific overall survival was significantly lower in NEC positive group than in control group (58.3% versus 81.1%,P=0.037).Cox regression showed that the 5-year cumulative risks of disease recurrence and cancer-caused death in NEC positive patients were 2.38 and 2.41 times higher than those in control patients,respectively.Conclusions NEC appears to bear a poor prognosis in patients with colorectal adenocarcinoma.