Do adverse histopathologic findings in colorectal cancer patients explain disparate outcomes?

We have previously reported reduced overall and disease-free survival in black patients from a 10-year retrospective review of 668 patients from tumor registry data. This study of 213 patients reports the analysis of available archived tissue from a city hospital (n=44 patients, 53% black) and from a university medical center (n=169, 10.6% black). Two senior pathologists independently reviewed slides for predetermined histologic criteria reported to correlate with survival: tumor type, stage at diagnosis, character of invasion, vascular or perineural invasion, the presence of residual adenoma, the presence of a Crohn's-like reaction and number of nodes resected. Differences in discrete variables were compared using the Chi-squared test. Differences in continuous variables were analyzed using independent t tests. No statistically significant differences were identified in tumor stage or type by institution or race. In patients treated at the city hospital, there was a higher incidence of infiltrating tumors (85% vs. 61%, p<0.001), vascular invasion (70% vs. 36%, p<0.05) and residual adenoma (84% vs. 39%, p<0.05); however, no differences by race were identified. Blacks at both hospitals had significantly more perineural invasion (81% vs. 30%, p<0.05) and Crohn's-like reaction (64% vs. 30%, p<0.05) when compared to white patients, although there was no difference between hospitals. The total number of lymph nodes resected was higher at the university hospital (17.0 vs. 8.9, p<0.001). There were no differences in number of nodes resected at either institution by race. Histopathologic findings did not explain the apparent disparity in survival. The differences in number of nodes harvested may suggest inadequate resection or insufficient recovery of nodes by the pathologist.