Our colorectal cancer nomogram is an online tool that can be used to predict the probability that a patient will be disease-free from colon cancer five to ten years following complete resection (surgical removal of all cancerous tissue).
Who Can Use This Tool?
This nomogram was designed to be used by physicians and people with colorectal cancer. If you are a patient, we recommend that you use this tool only in consultation with your doctor.
This nomogram is appropriate for patients who have undergone surgery for colon cancer, assuming that all of the primary cancer was completely removed during the original surgery. It is designed for patients with localized colon cancer that shows no evidence of metastasis, or spread beyond the colon, before or at the time of surgery.
This tool is only appropriate for patients with tumors found in the colon — between the pouch that forms the first part of the large intestine (known as the cecum) and the S-shaped section of the colon that connects to the rectum (the rectosigmoid, or sigmoid, colon). Patients using this nomogram may or may not have had chemotherapy.
Why Is This Tool Useful?
Understanding a patient’s risk of cancer following surgery can help patients and their doctors to make decisions on further treatment and to plan long-term follow-up.
This colorectal cancer nomogram is based on a database of 1,320 patients with nonmetastatic colon cancer treated at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. It provides a more accurate picture of the five- or ten-year risk of recurrence than older assessment tools, such as the staging system of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC).
This predictive tool may also be used by researchers to help design and evaluate clinical trials.
What Information Will You Need?
In order for this nomogram to provide an accurate prediction, you must include accurate values for all of the information below.
- Age: Patient’s age at the time of surgery.
- Preoperative CEA level: Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), which is a tumor marker for colorectal cancer.
- Tumor location: This nomogram is only for patients with tumors localized in the colon, found between the cecum and rectosigmoid (greater than 18 cm from the anal verge).
- Tumor differentiation: Poor, moderate, or well differentiated.
- Lymphovascular invasion: Whether one or more tumor cells were found in the lymphatic or vascular structure.
- Perineural invasion: Whether one or more tumor cells were found in or around the nerves.
- Number of positive and negative lymph nodes: Value between 0 and 50.
- Depth of tumor penetration into the colon wall (T stage): The stage of the tumor based on the TNM anatomic staging system.
- Adjuvant chemotherapy: Whether the patient received chemotherapy after surgery.
To better understand the results of the nomogram, patients should discuss survival estimates with their doctors.
Use our colorectal cancer nomogram.
Contact Us
If you have questions or comments, please contact us at nomograms@mskcc.org.
