AIM: To determine the prognostic value of lymphatic and/or blood vessel invasion (LBVI) in patients with stage 11 gastric cancer. METHODS: From January 2001 to December 2006, 487 patients with histologically confi...AIM: To determine the prognostic value of lymphatic and/or blood vessel invasion (LBVI) in patients with stage 11 gastric cancer. METHODS: From January 2001 to December 2006, 487 patients with histologically confirmed primary gas- tric adenocarcinoma were diagnosed with stage 11 gas- tric cancer according to the new 7th edition American Joint Committee on Cancer stage classification at the Department of Gastric Cancer and Soft Tissue Surgery, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center. All patients underwent curative gastrectomy with standard lymph node (LN) dissection. Fifty-one patients who died in the postoperative period, due to various complications or other conditions, were excluded. Clinicopathologicalfindings and clinical outcomes were analyzed. Patients were subdivided into four groups according to the status of LBVI and LN metastases. These four patient groups were characterized with regard to age, sex, tumor site, pT category, tumor grading and surgical procedure (subtotal resection vs total resection), and compared for 5-year overall survival by univariate and multivariate analysis. RESULTS: The study was composed of 320 men and 116 women aged 58.9 ± 11.5 years (range: 23-88 years). The 5-year overall survival rates were 50.7% and the median survival time was 62 too. Stage Ⅱ a cancer was observed in 334 patients, including 268 T3N0, 63 T2N1, and three TIN2, and stage Ⅱb was observed in 102 patients, including 49 patients T3N1, 51 T2N2, one TIN3, and one T4aN0. The incidence of LBVI was 28.0% in stage II gastric cancer with 19.0% (51/269) and 42.5% (71/167) in LN-negative and LN- positive patients, respectively. In 218 patients (50.0%), there was neither a histopathologically detectable LBVI nor LN metastases (LBVI-/LN-, group I); in 51 patients (11.7%), LBVI with no evidence of LN me- tastases was detected (LBVILN-, group 11). In 167 patients (38.3%), LN metastases were found. Among those patients, LBVI was not determined in 96 patients (22.0%) (LBVI-γLN, group Ⅲ), and was determined in 71 patients (16.3%) (LBVI+LN+, group Ⅳ). Correla- tion analysis showed that N category and the number of positive LNs were significantly associated with the presence of LBVI (P 〈 0.001). The overall 5-year sur- vival was significantly longer in LN-negative patients compared with LN-positive patients (56.1% vs 42.3%, P = 0.015). There was a significant difference in the overall 5-year survival between LBVI-positive and LBVI- negative tumors (39.6% vs 54.8%, P = 0.006). Overall 5-year survival rates in each group were 58.8% ( Ⅰ), 45.8% (Ⅱ), 45.7% (Ⅲ) and 36.9% (Ⅳ), and there was a significant difference in overall survival between the four groups (P=-0.009). Multivariate analysis in stage 11 gastric cancer patients revealed that LBVI in- dependently affected patient prognosis in LN-negativepatients (P = 0.018) but not in LN-positive patients (P = 0.508). CONCLUSION: In LN-negative stage 11 gastric cancer patients, LBVI is an additional independent prognostic markeF, and may provide useful information to identify patients with poorer prognosis.展开更多
AIM: To investigate the prognostic value of chromosome 18q microsatellite alterations (MA) in stage Ⅱ colon cancer. METHODS: One hundred and six patients with sporadic stage Ⅱ colon cancer were enrolled in this stud...AIM: To investigate the prognostic value of chromosome 18q microsatellite alterations (MA) in stage Ⅱ colon cancer. METHODS: One hundred and six patients with sporadic stage Ⅱ colon cancer were enrolled in this study. DNA was extracted from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumor and adjacent normal mucosal tissue samples. MA, including loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and microsatellite instability (MSI), was analyzed by polymerase chain reaction, polyacrylamide gel-electrophoresis and DNA sequencing at 5 microsatellite loci on chromosome 18q (D18S474, D18S55, D18S58, D18S61 and D18S64).RESULTS: Among the 102 patients eligible for MA information, the overall frequencies of LOH, high and low frequency MSI/microsatellite stable were 49.0%, 17.6% and 82.4%, respectively. The high frequency of 18q-LOH was signif icantly associated with the poor 5-year overall survival (OS) (P=0.008) and disease free survival (P=0.006). High levels of MSI were significantly associated with a longer 5-year OS (P=0.045) while the higher frequency of 18q-LOH at the loci of D18S474 and D18S61 was significantly associated with a poorer 5-year OS (P=0.010 and 0.005, respectively). But multivariate analysis showed that only the frequency of 18q-LOH was significantly associated with the prognosis of the disease. CONCLUSION: High frequency of 18q-LOH is an independent prognostic factor indicating poor prognosis of the patients with stage Ⅱ colon cancer.展开更多
In colon cancer,classic disease staging remains the key prognosis and treatment determinant.Although adjuvant chemotherapy has an established role in stageⅢcolon cancer patients,in stageⅡit is still a subject of con...In colon cancer,classic disease staging remains the key prognosis and treatment determinant.Although adjuvant chemotherapy has an established role in stageⅢcolon cancer patients,in stageⅡit is still a subject of controversy due to its restriction to a small subgroup of patients with high-risk histopathologic features.Patients with stageⅡtumors form a highly heterogeneous group,with five-year relative overall survival rates ranging from 87.5%(ⅡA)to 58.4%(ⅡC).Identifying those for whom adjuvant chemotherapy would be appropriate and necessary has been challenging,and prognostic markers which could serve in the selection of patients more likely to recur or benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy are eagerly needed.The stronger candidate in this category seems to be microsatellite instability(MSI).The recently reported European Society for Medical Oncology guidelines suggest that MSI should be evaluated in stageⅡcolorectal cancer patients in order to contribute in treatment decisionmaking regarding chemotherapy administration.Thehypothetical predictive role of MSI regarding its response to 5-fluorouracil-based adjuvant chemotherapy has proven a much more difficult issue to address.Almost every possible relation between MSI and chemotherapy outcome has been described in the adjuvant colon cancer setting in the international literature,and the matter is far from being settled.In this current report we critically evaluate the prognostic and predictive impact of MSI status in patients with stageⅡand stageⅢcolon cancer patients.展开更多
AIM To evaluate whether a high risk macroscopic appearance(Type Ⅳ and giant Type Ⅲ) is associated with a dismal prognosis after curative surgery, because its prognostic relevance remains elusive in pathological sta...AIM To evaluate whether a high risk macroscopic appearance(Type Ⅳ and giant Type Ⅲ) is associated with a dismal prognosis after curative surgery, because its prognostic relevance remains elusive in pathological stage Ⅱ/Ⅲ(p Stage Ⅱ/Ⅲ) gastric cancer.METHODS One hundred and seventy-two advanced gastric cancer(defined as pT2 or beyond) patients with p Stage Ⅱ/Ⅲ who underwent curative surgery plus adjuvant S1 chemotherapy were evaluated, and the prognostic relevance of a high-risk macroscopic appearance was examined. RESULTS Advanced gastric cancers with a high-risk macroscopic appearance were retrospectively identified by preoperative recorded images. A high-risk macroscopic appearance showed a significantly worse relapse free survival(RFS)(35.7%) and overall survival(OS)(34%) than an average risk appearance(P = 0.0003 and P < 0.0001, respectively). A high-risk macroscopic appearance was significantly associated with the 13^(th) Japanese Gastric Cancer Association(JGCA) pT(P = 0.01), but not with the 13^(th) JGCA pN. On univariate analysis for RFS and OS, prognostic factors included 13^(th) JGCA p Stage(P < 0.0001)and other clinicopathological factors including macroscopic appearance. A multivariate Cox proportional hazards model for univariate prognostic factors identified highrisk macroscopic appearance(P = 0.036, HR = 2.29 for RFS and P = 0.021, HR = 2.74 for OS) as an independent prognostic indicator. CONCLUSION A high-risk macroscopic appearance was associated with a poor prognosis, and it could be a prognostic factor independent of 13^(th) JGCA stage in p Stage Ⅱ/Ⅲ advanced gastric cancer.展开更多
Uterine cervical cancer is the second most common gynecological malignancy. It is estimated that over 35% of tumors are diagnosed at locally advanced disease, stage ⅠB2-ⅡB with an estimated 5-year overall survival o...Uterine cervical cancer is the second most common gynecological malignancy. It is estimated that over 35% of tumors are diagnosed at locally advanced disease, stage ⅠB2-ⅡB with an estimated 5-year overall survival of 60%. During the last decades, the initial treatment for these women has been debated and largely varies through different countries. Thus, radical concurrent chemoradiation is the standard of care in United Sated and Canada, and neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by radical surgery is the first line of treatment in some institutions of Europe, Asia and Latin America. Until today, there is no evidence of which strategy is better over the other. This article describe the evidence as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the main strategies of treatment for women affected by uterine cervical cancer stage ⅠB2-ⅡB.展开更多
Currently,there are several newer biomarkers that may be clinically useful in colon cancer. This paper focuses on a few of these biomarkers,namely microsatellite instability,loss of heterozygosity at chromosome 18q(LO...Currently,there are several newer biomarkers that may be clinically useful in colon cancer. This paper focuses on a few of these biomarkers,namely microsatellite instability,loss of heterozygosity at chromosome 18q(LOH18q) and multi-gene assays,and discusses the clinical evidence behind their predictive or prognostic abilities. The results show that although there have been several newer prognostic factors identified,such as LOH18 q and multi-gene assays,none of these factors can predict benefit from treatment. Therefore,ongoing prospective clinical trials are still needed to further assess the role and optimal use of these tests.展开更多
Purpose Intensive postoperative chemotherapy treatment use in early-onset colon cancer and late-onset colon cancer remains to be defined and their effects on prognosis were unclear.This study aims to investigate wheth...Purpose Intensive postoperative chemotherapy treatment use in early-onset colon cancer and late-onset colon cancer remains to be defined and their effects on prognosis were unclear.This study aims to investigate whether intensive adjuvant chemotherapy for stageⅡcolon cancer would result in matched survival improvement in young patients(<50 years)without risk factors and old-aged(70–85 years)patients with risk factors defined by guidelines.Methods We extracted eligible patients with pathologically confirmed TNM stageⅡcolon cancer from the Surveillance,Epidemiology,and End Results database between 2004 and 2015.Patients aged<50 years old without risk factors were defined as non-high-risk early-onset colon cancer(non-HREOCC),and those aged 70 to 85 years with risk factors were defined as high-risk late-onset colon cancer(HRLOCC).Kaplan–Meier(KM)method with log-rank test was performed to calculate the overall survival(OS)and cancer-specific survival(CSS).Multivariate Cox model was used to estimate the association of adjuvant chemotherapy with CSS by adjusting potential confounding factors.Results Of 55,366 eligible stageⅡcolon cancer patients,3341 non-HREOCC patients and 11,722 HRLOCC patients were included.37.68%and 16.8%of patients received adjuvant chemotherapy among non-HREOCC and HRLOCC patients,respectively.For non-HREOCC patients,there was no significant association between adjuvant chemotherapy and CSS(HR=1.09,95%CI0.83–1.44).For HRLOCC patients,adjuvant chemotherapy was associated with a better CSS(HR=0.88,95%CI0.79–0.99).Conclusion Our findings suggested that potential overuse of adjuvant chemotherapy among non-high-risk young patients with stageⅡcolon cancer did not lead to survival improvement,and caution should be called when using chemotherapy in these patients.However,chemotherapy can be used appropriately for high-risk stageⅡcolon cancer patients aged 70 to 85 years.展开更多
Background Previous prognosis analyses of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients with stage Ⅱ and Ⅲ disease were done as separate categories. The purpose of this study was to analyze prognostic factors associated with s...Background Previous prognosis analyses of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients with stage Ⅱ and Ⅲ disease were done as separate categories. The purpose of this study was to analyze prognostic factors associated with survival in a group of patients who underwent radical resection of stages Ⅱ and Ⅲ CRC.Methods A retrospective review was performed for 141 consecutive stages Ⅱ and Ⅲ patients who had undergone radical resection of coloractal adenocarcinoma between May 2003 and November 2003. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to assess the effect of record variables on disease free survival and overall survival.Results The median follow-up time was 59 months, and the 3-and 5-year survival rates were 76% and 68%,respectively. Four factors were independently associated with a worse disease-free survival: diabetes (hazard ratio (HR) 2.338; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.011-5.407), expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (Cox-2) (HR 0.335; 95% CI 0.126-0.888), expression of matrix metalloproteinases 2 (MMP-2) (FIR 0.233; 95% CI 0.101-0.541), expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) (HR 0.295; 95% CI 0.088-0.996). Four factors were independently associated with a worse overall survival: lymph nodes metastasis (HR 1.67; 95% CI 1.29-2.14), Cox-2 positive (HR 0.056; 95% CI 0.247-0.731), MMP-2 positive (HR 0.398; 95% CI 0.190-0.836), VEGF (HR 0.364; 95% CI 0.090-0.716).Conclusions Diabetes, expression of Cox-2, MMP-2 and VEGF were independently associated with a worse diseasefree survival. Lymph nodes metastasis, expression of Cox-2, MMP-2 and high level of VEGF predicted a poor overall survival.展开更多
文摘AIM: To determine the prognostic value of lymphatic and/or blood vessel invasion (LBVI) in patients with stage 11 gastric cancer. METHODS: From January 2001 to December 2006, 487 patients with histologically confirmed primary gas- tric adenocarcinoma were diagnosed with stage 11 gas- tric cancer according to the new 7th edition American Joint Committee on Cancer stage classification at the Department of Gastric Cancer and Soft Tissue Surgery, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center. All patients underwent curative gastrectomy with standard lymph node (LN) dissection. Fifty-one patients who died in the postoperative period, due to various complications or other conditions, were excluded. Clinicopathologicalfindings and clinical outcomes were analyzed. Patients were subdivided into four groups according to the status of LBVI and LN metastases. These four patient groups were characterized with regard to age, sex, tumor site, pT category, tumor grading and surgical procedure (subtotal resection vs total resection), and compared for 5-year overall survival by univariate and multivariate analysis. RESULTS: The study was composed of 320 men and 116 women aged 58.9 ± 11.5 years (range: 23-88 years). The 5-year overall survival rates were 50.7% and the median survival time was 62 too. Stage Ⅱ a cancer was observed in 334 patients, including 268 T3N0, 63 T2N1, and three TIN2, and stage Ⅱb was observed in 102 patients, including 49 patients T3N1, 51 T2N2, one TIN3, and one T4aN0. The incidence of LBVI was 28.0% in stage II gastric cancer with 19.0% (51/269) and 42.5% (71/167) in LN-negative and LN- positive patients, respectively. In 218 patients (50.0%), there was neither a histopathologically detectable LBVI nor LN metastases (LBVI-/LN-, group I); in 51 patients (11.7%), LBVI with no evidence of LN me- tastases was detected (LBVILN-, group 11). In 167 patients (38.3%), LN metastases were found. Among those patients, LBVI was not determined in 96 patients (22.0%) (LBVI-γLN, group Ⅲ), and was determined in 71 patients (16.3%) (LBVI+LN+, group Ⅳ). Correla- tion analysis showed that N category and the number of positive LNs were significantly associated with the presence of LBVI (P 〈 0.001). The overall 5-year sur- vival was significantly longer in LN-negative patients compared with LN-positive patients (56.1% vs 42.3%, P = 0.015). There was a significant difference in the overall 5-year survival between LBVI-positive and LBVI- negative tumors (39.6% vs 54.8%, P = 0.006). Overall 5-year survival rates in each group were 58.8% ( Ⅰ), 45.8% (Ⅱ), 45.7% (Ⅲ) and 36.9% (Ⅳ), and there was a significant difference in overall survival between the four groups (P=-0.009). Multivariate analysis in stage 11 gastric cancer patients revealed that LBVI in- dependently affected patient prognosis in LN-negativepatients (P = 0.018) but not in LN-positive patients (P = 0.508). CONCLUSION: In LN-negative stage 11 gastric cancer patients, LBVI is an additional independent prognostic markeF, and may provide useful information to identify patients with poorer prognosis.
文摘AIM: To investigate the prognostic value of chromosome 18q microsatellite alterations (MA) in stage Ⅱ colon cancer. METHODS: One hundred and six patients with sporadic stage Ⅱ colon cancer were enrolled in this study. DNA was extracted from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumor and adjacent normal mucosal tissue samples. MA, including loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and microsatellite instability (MSI), was analyzed by polymerase chain reaction, polyacrylamide gel-electrophoresis and DNA sequencing at 5 microsatellite loci on chromosome 18q (D18S474, D18S55, D18S58, D18S61 and D18S64).RESULTS: Among the 102 patients eligible for MA information, the overall frequencies of LOH, high and low frequency MSI/microsatellite stable were 49.0%, 17.6% and 82.4%, respectively. The high frequency of 18q-LOH was signif icantly associated with the poor 5-year overall survival (OS) (P=0.008) and disease free survival (P=0.006). High levels of MSI were significantly associated with a longer 5-year OS (P=0.045) while the higher frequency of 18q-LOH at the loci of D18S474 and D18S61 was significantly associated with a poorer 5-year OS (P=0.010 and 0.005, respectively). But multivariate analysis showed that only the frequency of 18q-LOH was significantly associated with the prognosis of the disease. CONCLUSION: High frequency of 18q-LOH is an independent prognostic factor indicating poor prognosis of the patients with stage Ⅱ colon cancer.
文摘In colon cancer,classic disease staging remains the key prognosis and treatment determinant.Although adjuvant chemotherapy has an established role in stageⅢcolon cancer patients,in stageⅡit is still a subject of controversy due to its restriction to a small subgroup of patients with high-risk histopathologic features.Patients with stageⅡtumors form a highly heterogeneous group,with five-year relative overall survival rates ranging from 87.5%(ⅡA)to 58.4%(ⅡC).Identifying those for whom adjuvant chemotherapy would be appropriate and necessary has been challenging,and prognostic markers which could serve in the selection of patients more likely to recur or benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy are eagerly needed.The stronger candidate in this category seems to be microsatellite instability(MSI).The recently reported European Society for Medical Oncology guidelines suggest that MSI should be evaluated in stageⅡcolorectal cancer patients in order to contribute in treatment decisionmaking regarding chemotherapy administration.Thehypothetical predictive role of MSI regarding its response to 5-fluorouracil-based adjuvant chemotherapy has proven a much more difficult issue to address.Almost every possible relation between MSI and chemotherapy outcome has been described in the adjuvant colon cancer setting in the international literature,and the matter is far from being settled.In this current report we critically evaluate the prognostic and predictive impact of MSI status in patients with stageⅡand stageⅢcolon cancer patients.
文摘AIM To evaluate whether a high risk macroscopic appearance(Type Ⅳ and giant Type Ⅲ) is associated with a dismal prognosis after curative surgery, because its prognostic relevance remains elusive in pathological stage Ⅱ/Ⅲ(p Stage Ⅱ/Ⅲ) gastric cancer.METHODS One hundred and seventy-two advanced gastric cancer(defined as pT2 or beyond) patients with p Stage Ⅱ/Ⅲ who underwent curative surgery plus adjuvant S1 chemotherapy were evaluated, and the prognostic relevance of a high-risk macroscopic appearance was examined. RESULTS Advanced gastric cancers with a high-risk macroscopic appearance were retrospectively identified by preoperative recorded images. A high-risk macroscopic appearance showed a significantly worse relapse free survival(RFS)(35.7%) and overall survival(OS)(34%) than an average risk appearance(P = 0.0003 and P < 0.0001, respectively). A high-risk macroscopic appearance was significantly associated with the 13^(th) Japanese Gastric Cancer Association(JGCA) pT(P = 0.01), but not with the 13^(th) JGCA pN. On univariate analysis for RFS and OS, prognostic factors included 13^(th) JGCA p Stage(P < 0.0001)and other clinicopathological factors including macroscopic appearance. A multivariate Cox proportional hazards model for univariate prognostic factors identified highrisk macroscopic appearance(P = 0.036, HR = 2.29 for RFS and P = 0.021, HR = 2.74 for OS) as an independent prognostic indicator. CONCLUSION A high-risk macroscopic appearance was associated with a poor prognosis, and it could be a prognostic factor independent of 13^(th) JGCA stage in p Stage Ⅱ/Ⅲ advanced gastric cancer.
文摘Uterine cervical cancer is the second most common gynecological malignancy. It is estimated that over 35% of tumors are diagnosed at locally advanced disease, stage ⅠB2-ⅡB with an estimated 5-year overall survival of 60%. During the last decades, the initial treatment for these women has been debated and largely varies through different countries. Thus, radical concurrent chemoradiation is the standard of care in United Sated and Canada, and neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by radical surgery is the first line of treatment in some institutions of Europe, Asia and Latin America. Until today, there is no evidence of which strategy is better over the other. This article describe the evidence as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the main strategies of treatment for women affected by uterine cervical cancer stage ⅠB2-ⅡB.
文摘Currently,there are several newer biomarkers that may be clinically useful in colon cancer. This paper focuses on a few of these biomarkers,namely microsatellite instability,loss of heterozygosity at chromosome 18q(LOH18q) and multi-gene assays,and discusses the clinical evidence behind their predictive or prognostic abilities. The results show that although there have been several newer prognostic factors identified,such as LOH18 q and multi-gene assays,none of these factors can predict benefit from treatment. Therefore,ongoing prospective clinical trials are still needed to further assess the role and optimal use of these tests.
基金The Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(No.226–2022-00009)the Project of the regional diagnosis and treatment center of the Health Planning Committee(No.JBZX-201903).
文摘Purpose Intensive postoperative chemotherapy treatment use in early-onset colon cancer and late-onset colon cancer remains to be defined and their effects on prognosis were unclear.This study aims to investigate whether intensive adjuvant chemotherapy for stageⅡcolon cancer would result in matched survival improvement in young patients(<50 years)without risk factors and old-aged(70–85 years)patients with risk factors defined by guidelines.Methods We extracted eligible patients with pathologically confirmed TNM stageⅡcolon cancer from the Surveillance,Epidemiology,and End Results database between 2004 and 2015.Patients aged<50 years old without risk factors were defined as non-high-risk early-onset colon cancer(non-HREOCC),and those aged 70 to 85 years with risk factors were defined as high-risk late-onset colon cancer(HRLOCC).Kaplan–Meier(KM)method with log-rank test was performed to calculate the overall survival(OS)and cancer-specific survival(CSS).Multivariate Cox model was used to estimate the association of adjuvant chemotherapy with CSS by adjusting potential confounding factors.Results Of 55,366 eligible stageⅡcolon cancer patients,3341 non-HREOCC patients and 11,722 HRLOCC patients were included.37.68%and 16.8%of patients received adjuvant chemotherapy among non-HREOCC and HRLOCC patients,respectively.For non-HREOCC patients,there was no significant association between adjuvant chemotherapy and CSS(HR=1.09,95%CI0.83–1.44).For HRLOCC patients,adjuvant chemotherapy was associated with a better CSS(HR=0.88,95%CI0.79–0.99).Conclusion Our findings suggested that potential overuse of adjuvant chemotherapy among non-high-risk young patients with stageⅡcolon cancer did not lead to survival improvement,and caution should be called when using chemotherapy in these patients.However,chemotherapy can be used appropriately for high-risk stageⅡcolon cancer patients aged 70 to 85 years.
文摘Background Previous prognosis analyses of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients with stage Ⅱ and Ⅲ disease were done as separate categories. The purpose of this study was to analyze prognostic factors associated with survival in a group of patients who underwent radical resection of stages Ⅱ and Ⅲ CRC.Methods A retrospective review was performed for 141 consecutive stages Ⅱ and Ⅲ patients who had undergone radical resection of coloractal adenocarcinoma between May 2003 and November 2003. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to assess the effect of record variables on disease free survival and overall survival.Results The median follow-up time was 59 months, and the 3-and 5-year survival rates were 76% and 68%,respectively. Four factors were independently associated with a worse disease-free survival: diabetes (hazard ratio (HR) 2.338; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.011-5.407), expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (Cox-2) (HR 0.335; 95% CI 0.126-0.888), expression of matrix metalloproteinases 2 (MMP-2) (FIR 0.233; 95% CI 0.101-0.541), expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) (HR 0.295; 95% CI 0.088-0.996). Four factors were independently associated with a worse overall survival: lymph nodes metastasis (HR 1.67; 95% CI 1.29-2.14), Cox-2 positive (HR 0.056; 95% CI 0.247-0.731), MMP-2 positive (HR 0.398; 95% CI 0.190-0.836), VEGF (HR 0.364; 95% CI 0.090-0.716).Conclusions Diabetes, expression of Cox-2, MMP-2 and VEGF were independently associated with a worse diseasefree survival. Lymph nodes metastasis, expression of Cox-2, MMP-2 and high level of VEGF predicted a poor overall survival.