Prognostic impact of genomic instability in colorectal cancer

Background: The prognostic impact of an indication of chromosomal instability (CIN) is evaluated in a consecutive series of 952 colorectal cancer patients treated at Aker University Hospital, Norway, during 1993–2003. Microsatellite instability (MSI) in this case series has recently been reported and made it possible to find the co-occurrence and compare the prognostic significance of CIN and MSI. Methods: Data sets for overall survival (OS; n 855) and time to recurrence (TTR; n 579) were studied. To reveal CIN we used automated image cytometry (ICM). Non-diploid histograms were taken as indicative of the presence of CIN. PCR-based measures of MSI in this material have already been described. Results: As with MSI, CIN was found to be an independent predictor of early relapse and death among stage II patient