Despite aggressive histopathology survival is not impaired in young patients with colorectal cancer

Purpose Colorectal carcinoma (CRC) is generally a disease of persons older than 50 years. Concerning younger patients, controversies still exist regarding features and prognosis of CRC. We performed this study to characterize CRC in young patients ([less than or equal to]50 years) as well as to eval...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of colorectal disease 2012-01, Vol.27 (1), p.71
Main Authors: Schellerer, Vera Simone, Merkel, Susanne, Schumann, Silke Christiane, Schlabrakowski, Anne, Förtsch, Thomas, Schildberg, Claus, Hohenberger, Werner
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Cancer patients
Colorectal cancer
Gastrointestinal diseases
Histochemistry
Medical research
Medicine, Experimental
Patient outcomes
Prognosis
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Summary:Purpose Colorectal carcinoma (CRC) is generally a disease of persons older than 50 years. Concerning younger patients, controversies still exist regarding features and prognosis of CRC. We performed this study to characterize CRC in young patients ([less than or equal to]50 years) as well as to evaluate outcome in comparison with older patients (>50 years) with CRC. Methods Clinical and histopathological parameters of 244 patients aged 50 years or less were compared with 1,718 patients aged more than 50 years. Results Compared with older patients, the younger had less adenocarcinomas (82.8% vs. 89.1%; p = 0.004) and less postoperative complications (18.4% vs. 28.7%; p = 0.001), and less Union Internationale Contre le Cancer stage I colon cancers (22.9% vs. 13.6%, p = 0.046) but elevated overall 5-year survival rates for M0 colon and rectal cancers (p = 0.005; p < 0.001). In young patients, the minority suffered from hereditary cancer syndromes (7.4%) and inflammatory bowel diseases (7.0%). Furthermore, up to 40% of young patients denied any cancers in their families. Cancer-related survival rates were significantly elevated in young patients with M0 rectal carcinoma (p = 0.014), whereas in M0 colon cancers, no differences were detectable (p = 0.542). In case of the presence of distant metastases, overall and cancer-related survival rates were similar in old and young patients. Conclusion Although young patients present with more aggressive histopathological subtypes and less early stages, cancer-related survival is not less favourable compared with older patients.
ISSN:0179-1958
1432-1262
DOI:10.1007/s00384-011-1291-8