Table 1

Baseline demographics of the unresected and resected groups

	Unresected group		Resected group
	No	%	No	%	p Value
PS, performance status; CEA, carcinoembryonic antigen; Alk phosph, alkaline phosphatase.
Total	82	100	280	100
Median time from diagnosis to chemotherapy (days)	26		52
Sex
Male	60	73	169	60
Female	22	27	111	40	0.03
Age (y)
Median (range)	59 (19–80)		62 (30–82)
PS at commencement of chemotherapy
0–1	51	62	225	80
⩾2	31	38	55	20	0.001
Site of primary tumour
Right sided	13	16	69	25
Residual colon	31	38	119	43
Rectum	38	46	92	33	0.06
Sites of metastases
Peritoneal/omental	11	13	56	20
Non-peritoneal/omental	71	87	224	80	0.18
Biochemical parameters
Mean serum alk phosph (U/l)	329		179		<0.001
Mean serum albumin (g/l)	34.5		38.7		<0.001
Mean CEA (μg/l)	3139		809		0.006