INTRODUCTION: The incidence and mortality of colorectal cancer (CRC) have shown, worldwide, an upward trend, particularly in developed countries and urban areas of developing countries. The study of tumor's pathological characteristics is important for staging and the definition of the proper therapy to be used. The aim of this study is to evaluate the pathologic features of surgical specimens of colorectal resections due CRC at Hospital das Clínicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. RESULTS: We evaluated 521 surgical specimens of colorectal resections. The mean age of patients was 62.47 (± 14.67) years, 302 (58%) were female. Tumors of the left colon were more common (340 [65.3%]). There was a predominance of adenocarcinoma (457 [87.7%]), ulcero-infiltrative (176 [33.8%]), moderately differentiated (396 [76%]), pT3 (316 [60.7%]) and pN0 (213 [40.9%]). The average number of dissected lymphonodes per surgical specimen was 22.13 (± 14.27). CONCLUSIONS: Data from our series of CRC did not differ from what was reported in the literature. In summary, the CRC was more common in women than in men, affecting most frequently the left colon, and the predominant type was moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma, pT3 and pN0
colorectal neoplasms; colorectal surgery; neoplasm staging; histology; pathology; surgical