## 3 Results  
### Characteristics of Entrolled Patients  
Forty-one patients were enrolled in the study (21 female and 20 male). The median age was 73 years (Table 1). Most of the enrolled patients had a good Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (PS), with 29 patients (71%) having a PS 0. However, over one half of the patients (\(n=38\); 69%) had comorbidity, of which 20 patients had vascular comorbidity. By inclusion criteria, all patients have early-stage disease: 11 patients (27%) with stage I, 13 patients (32%) stage II, and 17 patients (41%) stage III. In particular, six patients had a  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & & & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Stratified by**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Stratified by**} \\  & & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Profession Status**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Chemotherapy Treatment**} & \\ \cline{4-10}  & & **(N = 41)** & **Not Relapsed (N = 33)** & **Relapsed (N = 8)** & **\(p\)-Value** & **Capecitabine (N = 9)** & **XELOX (N = 10)** & **No CT (N = 22)** & \(p\)-Value** \\ \hline \hline Age at study & Median (min; & & & & & & & \\ entry & max) & 73 (51,92) & 71 (51,92) & 78 (68,86) & 0.032 & 77 (68,86) & 65 (51,72) & 78 (54,92) & 0.001 \\ \hline Sex & F & 21 (51\%) & 18 (55\%) & 3 (38\%) & \multirow{2}{*}{0.454} & 2 (22\%) & 7 (70\%) & 12 (55\%) & \multirow{2}{*}{0.109} \\ \cline{2-10}  & M & 20 (49\%) & 15 (45\%) & 5 (62\%) & & 7 (78\%) & 3 (30\%) & 10 (45\%) & \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{ECOG PS} & PS 0 & 29 (71\%) & 23 (70\%) & 6 (75\%) & \multirow{3}{*}{1} & 7 (78\%) & 10 (100\%) & 12 (55\%) & \multirow{3}{*}{0.102} \\ \cline{2-10}  & PS 1 & 8 (20\%) & 7 (21\%) & 1 (12\%) & & 1 (11\%) & 0 (0\%) & 7 (32\%) & 0.102 \\ \cline{2-10}  & PS 2 & 4 (10\%) & 3 (9\%) & 1 (12\%) & & 1 (11\%) & 0 (0\%) & 3 (14\%) & \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{pT} & pT1 & 6 (15\%) & 6 (18\%) & 0 (0\%) & \multirow{3}{*}{0.086} & 0 (0\%) & 1 (10\%) & 5 (23\%) & \multirow{3}{*}{0.477} \\ \cline{2-10}  & pT2 & 8 (20\%) & 8 (24\%) & 0 (0\%) & & 1 (11\%) & 1 (10\%) & 6 (27\%) & \\ \cline{2-10}  & pT3 & 23 (56\%) & 17 (52\%) & 6 (75\%) & & 7 (78\%) & 7 (70\%) & 9 (41\%) & \\ \cline{2-10}  & pT4 & 4 (10\%) & 2 (6\%) & 2 (25\%) & & 1 (11\%) & 1 (10\%) & 2 (9\%) & \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{N} & N0 & 24 (59\%) & 23 (70\%) & 1 (12\%) & \multirow{3}{*}{0.005} & 3 (33\%) & 3 (30\%) & 18 (82\%) & \multirow{3}{*}{0.005} \\ \cline{2-10}  & N+ & 17 (41\%) & 10 (30\%) & 7 (88\%) & & 6 (67\%) & 7 (70\%) & 4 (18\%) & \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{Stage risk} & Stage I & 11 (27\%) & 11 (33\%) & 0 (0\%) & \multirow{3}{*}{0.035} & 0 (0\%) & 0 (0\%) & 0 (0\%) & 11 (50\%) & \multirow{3}{*}{0.002} \\ \cline{2-10}  & Stage II Low risk & 2 (5\%) & 2 (6\%) & 0 (0\%) & \multirow{3}{*}{0.035} & 0 (0\%) & 0 (0\%) & 2 (9\%) & \multirow{3}{*}{0.002} \\ \cline{2-10}  & Stage II High risk & 11 (27\%) & 10 (30\%) & 1 (12\%) & & 3 (33\%) & 3 (30\%) & 5 (23\%) & \\ \cline{2-10}  & Stage III & 17 (41\%) & 10 (30\%) & 7 (88\%) & & 6 (67\%) & 7 (70\%) & 4 (18\%) & \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{Grading} & G1 & 2 (5\%) & 1 (3\%) & 1 (12\%) & \multirow{3}{*}{0.168} & 1 (11\%) & 1 (10\%) & 0 (0\%) & \multirow{3}{*}{0.205} \\ \cline{2-10}  & G2 & 19 (48\%) & 17 (53\%) & 2 (25\%) & & 2 (22\%) & 4 (40\%) & 13 (62\%) & \\ \cline{2-10}  & G3 & 17 (42\%) & 13 (41\%) & 4 (50\%) & \multirow{3}{*}{0.168} & 5 (56\%) & 5 (50\%) & 7 (33\%) & \\ \cline{2-10}  & G4 & 2 (5\%) & 1 (3\%) & 1 (12\%) & & 1 (11\%) & 0 (0\%) & 1 (5\%) & \\ \cline{2-10}  & NA & 1 & 1 & 0 & & 0 & 0 & 1 \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{Localization} & Left-sided & 13 (32\%) & 12 (36\%) & 1 (12\%) & \multirow{3}{*}{0.398} & 3 (33\%) & 6 (60\%) & 4 (18\%) & \multirow{3}{*}{0.07} \\ \cline{2-10}  & Right-sided & 28 (68\%) & 21 (64\%) & 7 (88\%) & & 6 (67\%) & 4 (40\%) & 18 (82\%) & \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{Comorbidities} & No com. & 13 (32\%) & 8 (24\%) & 5 (62\%) & \multirow{3}{*}{0.111} & 4 (44\%) & 3 (30\%) & 6 (27\%) & \multirow{3}{*}{0.519} \\ \cline{2-10}  & No vascular com.