Background: Tumor deposits (TDs) are a special metastatic pattern of colorectal cancer (CRC). This study aims to explore the pathological characteristics of TD and find out the risk factors of TD in CRC.
Methods: TDs cases of CRC were selected and validated by HE staining. The correlation between TDs and T stages, N stages, and microsatellite instability was calculated by the chi-squared (χ2) test.
Results: A total of 2553 patients with colorectal cancer undergoing intestinal resection were included in this study. Two hundred fifty-nine cases of TDs patients were included. The positive rate of TDs was 1.9% (2/105) in T1, 3.8% (10/266) in T2, 11% (231/2305) in T3, and 22.8% (16/77) in T4. T3 and T4 were more prone to TDs than T1 and T2, but there was no difference between T3 and T4. The positive rate of TDs was 7.2% (107/1491) in N0, 14.3% (152/1062) in N + , and N + was more prone to TDs than N0. The positive rate of TDs was 10.5% (256/2432) in MSS, 2.5% (3/121) in MSI, and MSS was more prone to TDs than MSI. Multivariate analysis showed lymph node invasion, T stage, and MSS were independent risk factors for TDs.
Conclusion: Lymph node invasion, T stage, and MSS were independent risk factors for TDs.
Keywords: Colorectal cancer; Metastatic pattern; Pathological features; TNM staging system; Tumor deposit.
© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.