Tumor Budding as a Prognostic Marker in Primary Colon Cancer - A Single Center Experience.

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Pathology
• Surgical Oncology

Background:

• Tumor budding (TB) is a recognized morphological and prognostic factor in colon cancer (CC).
• Assessing TB is crucial for understanding disease progression and patient outcomes in CC.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate tumor budding (TB) in stage II and III colon cancer (CC) patients.
• To determine the relationship between TB and clinicopathological findings.
• To assess the prognostic value of TB in CC.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 120 stage II and III CC patients operated between 2018-2021.
• TB evaluation at 200x magnification on H&E and CKAE1/AE3 stained sections.
• Classification of TB into low-grade (TB1) and high-grade (TB2, TB3).

Main Results:

• High-grade TB significantly correlated with patient age, stage III CC, lymph node status, vascular and lymphatic invasion.
• Patients with high-grade TB experienced significantly higher rates of postoperative relapse and death.
• High-grade TB was associated with significantly lower relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) rates.
• Lung and liver metastases were more frequent in patients with high-grade TB.

Conclusions:

• Tumor budding (TB) demonstrates significant prognostic value in stage II and III colon cancer (CC).
• High-grade TB is linked to adverse clinicopathological features and poorer survival outcomes.
• TB should be integrated as a histological biomarker in pathology reports for CC patients.