Prognostic histological markers in colorectal cancer

Background: Colon carcinomas are among the most common malignant tumors worldwide. The critical evaluation of different therapy options is particularly relevant. On the one hand, colon carcinomas more often occur at an older age, on the other hand patients with colon carcinomas often live for decades after initial diagnosis - it is just as important to avoid overtreatment as it is to avoid undertreatment, which shortens the patient's life span. Prognostically effective biomarkers are decision-making tools. There are clinical, molecular, and histological prognostic markers-the latter are presented in this paper. Aim of the work: To present the current state of knowledge on morphologically determinable prognostic markers in colon cancer. Materials and method: Literature search in PubMed and Medline. Conclusions: In their daily work, pathologists identify highly relevant prognostic markers that are essential for therapeutic decisions. These markers must be communicated to the clinical colleague. The most important and longest-known prognostic markers are staging (TNM), including local resection status, lymph node involvement and number on the surgical specimen, vascular invasion, perineural sheath infiltration, and histomorphologic growth pattern determination (e.g., micropapillary colon carcinoma is associated with a very unfavorable prognosis). Recently, tumor budding has been added, which has practical applications especially in endoscopically applied pT1 carcinomas ("malignant polyps").