Outcomes for Patients who Develop Both Breast and Colorectal Cancer

• Published in: Annals of surgical oncology 2012-01, Vol.19 (1), p.242-248
• Main Authors: Fisher, Carla S., Wachtel, Mitchell S., Margenthaler, Julie A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adenocarcinoma - diagnosis; Adenocarcinoma - epidemiology; Adenocarcinoma - mortality; Aged; Breast Neoplasms - diagnosis; Breast Neoplasms - epidemiology; Breast Neoplasms - mortality; Breast Oncology; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast - diagnosis; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast - epidemiology; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast - mortality; Carcinoma, Lobular - diagnosis; Carcinoma, Lobular - epidemiology; Carcinoma, Lobular - mortality; Colorectal cancer; Colorectal Neoplasms - diagnosis; Colorectal Neoplasms - epidemiology; Colorectal Neoplasms - mortality; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Neoplasm Staging; Neoplasms, Multiple Primary - diagnosis; Neoplasms, Multiple Primary - epidemiology; Neoplasms, Multiple Primary - mortality; Oncology; Prognosis; Retrospective Studies; SEER Program; Surgery; Surgical Oncology; Survival Rate
• ISSN: 1068-9265; 1534-4681
• DOI: 10.1245/s10434-011-1843-8

Background Patients diagnosed with both breast and colorectal cancer are not uncommon and will likely be seen more often as the population ages and treatment modalities improve. Survival outcomes for such patients have not been previously reported. Methods The 1988–2007 Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results data were used to identify women diagnosed with both breast and colorectal cancer. Disease-specific survival rates were compared. Results We identified 4,835 women who were diagnosed with both breast and colorectal cancer. Of these, 2,844 (58.8%) were diagnosed with breast cancer first and 1,807 (37.4%) were diagnosed with colorectal cancer first; 184 (3.8%) had synchronous cancers. At 5 years following the second cancer diagnosis, 163 (3.4%) died of breast cancer and 477 (9.9%) died of colorectal cancer ( P