Process of care and outcome measures
| Characteristic | Group; no. (%)* | p value† | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preoperative radiation | Postoperative radiation | No radiation | ||
| No. patients | 130 (12.8) | 196 (19.3) | 689 (67.9) | |
| Process of care measures | ||||
| Preoperative CT | 95 (73.1) | 102 (52.0) | 340 (49.3) | < 0.001 |
| No. lymph nodes examined, median | 8 | 12 | 10 | < 0.001‡ |
| Primary outcomes | ||||
| Permanent colostomy at initial surgery | 70 (53.8) | 53 (27.0) | 155 (22.5) | < 0.001 |
| Local recurrence | 7 (5.4) | 20 (10.2) | 38 (5.5) | 0.05 |
| Local recurrence for stage II/III | 4/74 (5.4) | 17/174 (9.8) | 23/331 (6.9) | 0.39 |