In this retrospective study, 72 patients with colorectal cancer were followed up for a mean period of 28.2 months. Predictors of recurrence and survival were determined using standard analyses. Univariate analyses identified a group of patients with a shorter time to recurrence. The mean overall survival time was 63.2 +/- 7.7 months and survival time was shorter for younger patients with palliative resection, lymph node metastasis and peritoneal nodules. In multivariate Cox proportional hazards analysis, the hazard ratio for positive lymph nodes was 2.54 (95% CI: 1.36-4.79) compared to negative nodes, and for Dukes' stages A and B compared to stage C it was 0.45 (95% CI: 0.25-0.81).