Table 1

Comparison of the baseline patient characteristics among the adjuvant treatment groups

CharacteristicsStage II (n = 381)Stage III–IV (n = 352)
No-AT (n = 258)CTx (n = 82)CRT (n = 41)P valueNo-AT (n = 114)CTx (n = 133)CRT (n = 105)P value
Gender, n (%)
 Male113 (44)33 (40)22 (54)0.364*44 (39)55 (41)43 (41)0.897*
 Female145 (56)49 (60)19 (46)70 (61)78 (59)62 (59)
Age (years)
 Median [range]67 [29–87]61 [29–88]66 [44–81]0.00071 [41–91]62 [38–87]63 [26–83]0.000
 ≤60 years, n (%)53 (21)36 (44)10 (24)0.000*22 (19)52 (39)39 (37)0.002*
 >60 years, n (%)205 (79)46 (56)31 (76)92 (81)81 (61)66 (63)
Tumor size (cm)
 Median [range]2.3 [0.1–8.8]2.7 [0.7–9.0]2.5 [0.5–10.5]0.4203.4 [1.0–13]3.5 [0.9–13.0]3.5 [1.0–9.0]0.534
 ≤3 cm, n (%)79 (67)38 (63)22 (65)0.846*35 (43)34 (44)37 (47)0.866*
 >3 cm, n (%)38 (33)22 (37)12 (35)47 (57)43 (56)42 (53)
T classification, n (%)
 T2258 (100)82 (100)41 (100)44 (39)58 (44)48 (46)0.554*
 T3–470 (61)75 (56)57 (54)
N classification, n (%)
 Nx52 (20)11 (13)3 (7)0.0758 (7)2 (2)1 (1)0.027
 N0206 (80)71 (87)38 (93)27 (24)25 (19)17 (16)
 N160 (53)90 (68)74 (71)
 N219 (17)16 (12)13 (12)
Preop CA 19-9 level (U/mL)
 Median [range]10 [0.1–2,400]9 [0.8–383]10 [2–119]0.34721 [0.1–2,960]21 [0.1–8,340]19 [0.1–9,410]0.370
 ≤37 U/mL, n (%)168 (83)57 (84)29 (85)0.926*59 (64)81 (68)60 (67)
 >37 U/mL, n (%)35 (17)11 (16)5 (15)34 (37)39 (33)29 (33)
Postop CA 19-9 level (U/mL)
 Median [range]8 [0.1–3,056]8 [0.7–62]9 [2.6–606]0.63913 [0.1–3,487]15 [0.1–850]14 [0.1–1,445]0.064
 ≤37 U/mL, n (%)204 (94)72 (97)34 (94)0.54370 (74)104 (83)78 (84)0.131*
 >37 U/mL, n (%)13 (6)2 (3)2 (6)25 (26)21 (17)15 (16)
Histologic differentiation, n (%)
 WD/MD224 (90)69 (86)36 (90)0.639*74 (70)97 (76)73 (72)0.554*
 PD25 (10)11 (14)4 (10)31 (30)30 (24)29 (28)
Resection margin, n (%)
 Negative249 (99)72 (95)38 (93)0.02597 (88)118 (90)96 (92)0.599*
 Positive3 (1)4 (5)3 (7)13 (12)13 (10)8 (8)
LVSI, n (%)
 No187 (79)58 (82)27 (67)0.196*38 (36)51 (40)51 (50)0.122*
 Yes50 (21)13 (18)13 (33)68 (64)76 (60)52 (50)
PNI, n (%)
 No193 (88)43 (80)31 (82)0.199*55 (54)50 (43)49 (49)0.280*
 Yes26 (12)11 (20)7 (18)47 (46)66 (57)52 (51)
Extent of surgical resection, n (%)
 Non-radical60 (23)14 (17)5 (12)0.175*20 (18)7 (5)6 (6)0.001*
 Radical198 (77)68 (83)36 (88)94 (82)126 (95)99 (94)

No-AT, no adjuvant therapy; CTx, chemotherapy; CRT, chemoradiotherapy; Preop, preoperative; Postop, postoperative; CA 19-9, carbohydrate antigen 19-9; WD, well differentiation; MD, moderate differentiation; PD, poor differentiation; LVSI, lymphovascular space invasion; PNI, perineural invasion; Non-radical, cholecystectomy ± lymph node dissection; Radical, radical cholecystectomy and lymph node dissection. *Pearson’s chi-square test. One-way analysis of variance. Fisher’s exact test.