OBJECTIVETo explore the difference in tumor biological behaviors and prognosis between recurrent colon cancer and recurrent rectal cancer after radical operation.

METHODSComplete clinical and follow-up data of 132 patients with colorectal cancer developed recurrence,including 36 colon cancers and 96 rectal cancers, after curative resection were retrospectively analyzed and compared with respect of clinical pathological features and prognosis between colon and rectal cancer.

RESULTSSignificant differences were found in primary tumor gross type, histological type, tumor differentiation and lymph node metastasis between colon and rectal cancer(P<0.05). Colon cancer recurred earlier than rectal cancer after radical surgery with the median time to recurrence being 14.0 months and 21.5 months, respectively(P=0.028). The difference in multiple sites recurrence was also found between colon(n=16, 44.4%) and rectal cancer(n=65, 67.7%)(P=0.014). The 3-year survival rate of recurrent rectal cancer was better than that of colon cancer (24.8% vs 15.6%, P=0.026).

CONCLUSIONThere are some differences in tumor biological behaviors between colon and rectal cancer, and the prognosis of rectal cancer with recurrence is better than that of colon cancer.