Patient selection: colorectal cancer following curative surgery (excludes Stage IV)
Risk factors for excess mortality in a patient with colon cancer:
(1) emergency surgery (relative excess risk 3.3)
(2) Charlson comorbidity index >= 2 (relative excess risk 5.2
(3) stage III (relative excess risk 2.6)
(4) postoperative complications (relative excess risk 2.1)
Risk factors for excess mortality in a patient with rectal cancer:
(1) age >= 75 years (relative excess risk 7.0)
(2) Charlson comorbidity index >= 1 (see Figure 2)
(3) stage II or III (see Figure 2)
(4) postoperative complications (relative excess risk 5.9)
where:
• Postoperative adverse events include surgical site infections, abdominal wall problems, bleeding, anastomotic leak, cardiac problems, pneumonia, and thromboemboli. The authors used a prolonged length of stay (>= 15 days after surgery) as a substitute for overall complications.
• The Charlson comorbidity score probably is after excluding malignancy since this conveys 2 points, making a value of 0 or 1 impossible.
