Table 1 Clinico-pathological and treatment characteristics according to platelets count before neoadjuvant chemoradiation in 965 patients with locally advanced rectal cancer
| Â | Platelet count | Â | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Variable | <  300 × 109/L | ≥ 300 × 109/L | p | ||
Gender | |||||
 Women | 220 | 32.88% | 128 | 43.24% | 0.002 |
 Men | 449 | 67.12% | 168 | 56.76% |  |
Age (mean, 95% CI) | 64.27 yrs | 63.46–65.08 | 63.18 yrs | 61.87–64.40 | 0.155 |
Distance from anal verge (mean, 95% CI) | 6.24 cms | 6.04–6.44 | 5.99 cms | 5.69–6.29 | 0.169 |
Interval to surgery (mean, 95% CI) | 8.83 weeks | 8.50–9.16 | 8.75 weeks | 7.99–9.51 | 0.829 |
Clinical primary tumor stage | |||||
 cT1 | 4 | 0.60% | 3 | 1.01% | 0.513 |
 cT2 | 48 | 7.17% | 22 | 7.43% |  |
 cT3 | 562 | 84.01% | 239 | 80.74% |  |
 cT4 | 55 | 8.22% | 32 | 10.81% |  |
Clinical lymph node stage | |||||
 cN0 | 254 | 37.97% | 118 | 39.86% | 0.576 |
 cN+ | 415 | 62.03% | 178 | 60.14% |  |
Type of surgery | |||||
 LAR | 515 | 76.98% | 222 | 75% | 0.790 |
 APR | 114 | 17.04% | 58 | 19.59% |  |
 LE | 29 | 4.33% | 11 | 3.72% |  |
 Other procedures | 11 | 1.64% | 5 | 1.69% |  |
Pathological primary tumor stage (ypT) | |||||
 ypT0 | 155 | 22.12% | 41 | 12.84% | < 0.001 |
 ypTis | 6 | 0.90% | 1 | 0.34% |  |
 ypT1 | 74 | 11.06% | 19 | 6.42% |  |
 ypT2 | 168 | 25.11% | 91 | 30.74% |  |
 ypT3 | 257 | 38.42% | 130 | 43.92% |  |
 ypT4 | 9 | 1.35% | 14 | 4.73% |  |
Pathological lymph node stage (ypN) | |||||
 ypN0 | 516 | 77.13% | 211 | 71.28% | 0.052 |
 ypN+ | 153 | 22.87% | 85 | 28.72% |  |