Objective:To investigate the prognosis of patients with liver metastasis or local recurrence after radical resection of rectal cancer,in order to provide reference for the further screening of high-risk patients for the precise therapeutic methods.Methods:The clinicopathological factor and follow-up data of 485 patients who underwent surgical treatment for rectal cancer from March 2005 to January 2016 were retrospectively analyzed.Including 75 liver metastasis and 32 local recurrence.The prognosis were compared between the patients with liver metastasis and with local recurrence.Results:The difference was statistically significant in CEA level,primary tumor position,surgical methods,tumor cell differentiation,tumor infiltration depth between liver metastasis and local recurrence after radical resection of rectal cancer (P＜0.05).The 1-,3-and 5-year overall survival rates were 76.6％,53.1％ and 18.8％ respectively of patients with liver metastasis,The 1-,3-and 5-year overall survival rates were 81.3％,62.5％ and 37.5％ respectively of patients with local recurrence,the difference was statistically significant(P＜0.05).Conclusion:There were different clinicopathological characteristics of patients between liver metastasis and local recurrence.The prognosis of patients with local recurrence was better than patients with liver metastasis.