| Characteristic | Patients with no metastasis (n = 20) | Patients with metastasis (n = 35) | p Value* |
| Age, median (range) (years) | 68 (42–78) | 65 (17–83) | 0.916 |
| Sex | |||
| Male | 10 | 20 | 0.779 |
| Female | 10 | 15 | |
| Location | |||
| Rectum | 11 | 13 | 0.262 |
| Colon | 9 | 22 | |
| Differentiation | |||
| Good | 11 | 21 | 0.781 |
| Poor | 9 | 14 | |
| Primary tumour stage (T) | |||
| T2 | 1 | 3 | 1.00 |
| T3–4 | 19 | 32 | |
| Adjuvant 5-FU-based chemotherapy | 7 | 14 | 0.779 |
| Yes | 7 | 14 | 0.779 |
| No | 13 | 21 |
*Calculated by Wilcoxon rank-sum test for age and by Fisher’s exact test for the other factors.
5-FU, 5-fluorouracil.