Postoperative fever and survival in patients after open resection for colorectal cancer: a long-term follow-up study of 2,311 prospectively enrolled patients.

Purpose: Two reports on the impact of postoperative fever on survival after surgery in patients with colorectal cancer yielded contradictory results. Our study examined possible associations between postoperative fever and long-term survival of patients who underwent resection of colorectal cancer.

Methods: We investigated 2,311 consecutive patients who underwent elective open colorectal resection for primary colorectal cancer at a single institution between 1995 and 1998. The primary end points were cancer-specific and overall survival. Multiple covariate impact of risk factors on survival rates was assessed by Cox regression analysis.

Results: A total of 252 patients (12.2 percent) developed postoperative fever. The most important independent risk factor for postoperative fever was postoperative morbidity (odds ratio, 4.9; 95 percent confidence interval, 3.7-6.6) followed by blood transfusion (1.7; 1.2-2.2), Stage IV disease (1.6; 1.1-2.2), male gender (1.4; 1.0-1.9), and rectal cancer (1.4; 1.0-1.8). Cox regression modeling indicated that stage, histology, tumor location, and blood transfusion were statistically significant covariate predictors for cancer-specific survival. Postoperative fever was not independently associated with cancer-specific or overall survival.

Conclusions: This study did not support the hypothesis that postoperative fever is an independent prognostic factor after colorectal resection for primary colorectal cancer.