Patient and tumour characteristics
| Characteristic | Group; no. (%) of patients* | p value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preoperative radiotherapy n = 76 | No preoperative radiotherapy n = 77 | ||
| Age, yr, median | 60.5 | 63.0 | 0.2 |
| Male sex | 56 (74) | 49 (64) | 0.2 |
| Comorbidities | 21 (28) | 21 (27) | > 0.99 |
| Preoperative magnetic resonance imaging | 19 (25) | 7 (9) | < 0.01 |
| Tumour distance to anal verge, cm, median | 7.0 | 8.0 | 0.09 |
| Tumour fixation | |||
| Mobile | 14 (18) | 55 (71) | < 0.001 |
| Tethered | 22 (29) | 4 (5) | |
| Fixed | 31 (41) | 0 (0) | |
| Not reported† | 9 (12) | 18 (23) | |
| Tumour size, cm, median | 3.4 | 4.0 | < 0.05 |
| Any vascular, lymphatic, neural invasion | 32 (42) | 31 (40) | 0.2 |
| Tumour–node–metastasis stage | |||
| I | 11 (14) | 29 (38) | 0.003 |
| II | 18 (24) | 15 (19) | |
| III | 26 (34) | 25 (32) | |
| IV | 21 (28) | 8 (10) | |