1 3 J Cancer Res Clin Oncol DOI 10.1007/s00432-016-2224-2 ORIGINAL ARTICLE – CLINICAL ONCOLOGY Prognosis of mucinous and signet-ring cell colorectal cancer in a population-based cohort Ulrich Nitsche 1 · Helmut Friess 1 · Ayman Agha 2 · Martin Angele 3 · Renate Eckel 4 · Wolf Heitland 5 · Karl-Walter Jauch 6 · Detlef Krenz 7 · Natascha C. Nüssler 8 · Horst-Günter Rau 9 · Reinhard Ruppert 8 · Gabriele Schubert-Fritschle 4 · Dirk Wilhelm 1 · Jens Werner 3 · Jutta Engel 4 Received: 15 August 2016 / Accepted: 22 August 2016 © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016 by cumulative incidence. Survival was analyzed by the Kaplan–Meier method, calculation of relative survival, and Cox proportional hazards regression. Results AC occurred in 25,172 patients (90 %), MAC in 2724 (9.7 %), and SC in 160 (0.6 %). AC were less fre- quently localized in the proximal colon (34 %) compared to MAC (57 %, p < 0.001) and SC (76 %, p < 0.001). Both, MAC and SC had higher T, N, and M categories, lymphatic invasion, and worse grading (p < 0.001 for each). There were significant differences regarding the 10-year cumula- tive incidence of locoregional recurrence (p < 0.001), and Abstract Purpose Besides classical colorectal adenocarcinomas (AC), mucinous adenocarcinomas (MAC) and signet-ring cell carcinomas (SC) occur. Controversy remains regarding their prognostic role. Aim of this study was to define prog- nostic and histopathological specifications of mucinous and signet-ring cell colorectal cancer. Methods A total of 28,056 patients with AC, MAC, and SC between 1998 and 2012 in the catchment area of the Munich Cancer Registry were analyzed. Time to locore- gional recurrence and distant recurrence was calculated * Ulrich Nitsche ulrich.nitsche@tum.de Helmut Friess helmut.friess@tum.de Ayman Agha ayman.agha@klinikum-muenchen.de Martin Angele martin.angele@med.uni-muenchen.de Renate Eckel eckel@ibe.med.uni-muenchen.de Wolf Heitland chirurgie@isarklinikum.de Karl-Walter Jauch karl-walter.jauch@med.uni-muenchen.de Detlef Krenz detlef.krenz@dritter-orden.de Natascha C. Nüssler natascha.nuessler@klinikum-muenchen.de Horst-Günter Rau horst-guenter.rau@helios-kliniken.de Reinhard Ruppert reinhard.ruppert@klinikum-muenchen.de Gabriele Schubert-Fritschle gabriele.schubert-fritschle@med.uni-muenchen.de Dirk Wilhelm dirk.wilhelm@tum.de Jens Werner jens.werner@med.uni-muenchen.de Jutta Engel engel@ibe.med.uni-muenchen.de 1 Klinik und Poliklinik für Chirurgie, Klinikum rechts der Isar der Technischen Universität München, Ismaninger Straße 22, 81675 Munich, Germany 2 Klinik für Allgemein-, Viszeral-, Gefäß- und Thoraxchirurgie, Klinikum München-Bogenhausen, Englschalkinger Str. 77, 81925 Munich, Germany 3 Klinik für Allgemeine, Viszeral-, Transplantations-, Gefäß- und Thoraxchirurgie, Klinikum der Universität München, Marchioninistr. 15, 81377 Munich, Germany 4 Tumorregister München (TRM) des Tumorzentrums München (TZM), Institut für medizinische Informationsverarbeitung, Biometrie und Epidemiologie (IBE), Klinikum der Universität München (KUM), Marchioninistr. 15, 81377 Munich, Germany