The role of venous and neural invasion on survival in rectal adenocarcinoma.

A total of 254 rectal adenocarcinomas were examined for the presence of venous and neural invasion. Both the incidence of venous and neural invasion increased with Astler-Coller's stage, except for stage C1 related to neural invasion. Both prognostic factors predicted significantly reduced actuarial survival rates in patients with node-negative tumors. Thus, examination for the presence of venous and neural invasion can add information to conventional staging in node-negative tumors for assessing prognosis after radical surgery for rectal adenocarcinoma.