Outcomes of multimodality therapies for patients with stage II or III rectal cancer in California, 1994-2009.

Background: Perioperative chemoradiotherapy is being used for the treatment of locally advanced rectal cancer to improve survival and reduce recurrence. Although several studies have prompted these changes, the survival benefits of additional chemoradiotherapy have not been adequately tested in a large-scale, population-based setting.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate survival differences between perioperative chemoradiotherapy and surgery alone for the treatment of rectal cancer.

Predictors of delayed-stage colorectal cancer: are we neglecting critical demographic information?

Purpose: We sought to distinguish roles of demographic variables and bowel segments as predictors of delayed versus early stage colorectal cancer in California.

Methods: Demographic and anatomic variables for 66,806 colorectal cancers were extracted from the California Cancer Registry for 2004-2008 and analyzed using logistic regression as delayed versus early stage.

Results: Odds ratios (OR) for binary stage categories comparing age <40 (OR=2.