The presence of poorly differentiated clusters predicts survival in stage II colorectal cancer.

In stage II colorectal carcinoma (CRC), adjuvant chemotherapy is reserved to cases at high risk of adverse outcome. This study aims to investigate the prognostic value of tumor budding (TB) and poorly differentiated clusters (PDC) in this setting. In a cohort of 149 patients with surgically resected stage II CRC not undergoing neoadjuvant or adjuvant treatments, we assessed the prognostic value of several clinical-pathological variables, including PDC and TB, on cancer-specific survival (CSS).