Table 1 Baseline parameters of this cohort of 386 stage II and III colon cancer patients, stratified for ACT (P-values for differences in baseline between ACT treated and untreated patients were calculated using chi-square, or Mann Whitney U when appropriate)

Sex

 Male

203 (52.6)

127 (48.3)

76 (61.8)

0.016

 Female

183 (47.4)

136 (51.7)

47 (38.2)

 Age, median (range)(years)

73.1 (28,5 – 94.0)

76.3 (28.5 – 94.0)

64.9 (34.5 – 83.3)

 < 0.001

 Right sided tumour

173 (45.1)

117 (44.5)

56 (45.5)

0.91

 Diameter, median (range)(mm)

40.0 (10.0 – 130.0)

40.0 (10.0 – 130.0)

35.0 (10.0 – 100.0)

0.009

Histological grade

 Well

24 (6.2)

17 (6.5)

7 (5.7)

0.93

 Moderate

302 (78.2)

206 (78.3)

96 (78.0)

 Poor

60 (15.5)

40 (15.2)

20 (16.3)

Stage

 II (= N₀)

226 (58.5)

192 (73.0)

34 (27.6)

 < 0.001

 III (= N₊)

160 (41.5)

71 (27.0)

89 (72.4)

Tumour stage

 T1

4 (1.0)

2 (0.8)

2 (1.6)

0.022

 T2

19 (4.9)

8 (3.0)

11 (8.9)

 T3

325 (84.2)

231 (87.8)

94 (76.4)

 T4

38 (9.8)

22 (8.4)

16 (13.0)

Nodal stage (stage III)

 N1

110 (28.5)

54 (20.5)

56 (45.5)

 < 0.001

 N2

49 (12.7)

17 (6.5)

32 (26.0)

 Mucinous differentiation

82 (21.2)

64 (24.3)

18 (14.6)

0.033

 Isolated tumour deposits (ITD)

50 (13.0)

24 (9.1)

26 (21.1)

0.001

MSI-status

 MSI

65 (16.8)

47 (21.4)

18 (16.1)

0.31

 MSS

332 (86.0)

173 (78.6)

94 (83.9)

 Ulceration

297 (76.9)

196 (74.5)

101 (82.1)

0.12

 Lymphovascular invasion (LVI)

78 (20.2)

44 (16.7)

34 (27.6)

0.015

 Emergency surgery

51 (13.2)

35 (13.3)

16 (13.0)

1.0

Perforation

 Before surgery

16 (4.1)

12 (4.6)

4 (3.3)

0.38

 During surgery

5 (1.3)

4 (1.5)

1 (0.8)

 After surgery

10 (2.7)

9 (3.4)

1 (0.8)

 Tumour spill

12 (3.1)

9 (3.4)

3 (2.4)

0.76

 Recurrence

127 (32.9)

77 (29.3)

50 (40.7)

0.036

 CRC mortality

101 (26.2)

64 (24.3)

37 (30.1)

0.26

 Overall mortality

177 (45.9)

133 (50.6)

44 (35.8)

0.008

 Follow-up (median, range) (months)

57,2 (3 – 148)

57.1 (3 – 148)

57.5 (3 – 127)

0.73