Abstract

Colorectal Carcinoma: Should the Young Be Worried?

Introduction: In India, colon cancer ranks thirteen among new cases as well as in terms of deaths while rectal carcinoma ranks sixteenth among new cases and fifteenth among death. Objective: Colorectal carcinomas are usually cancers of old age but nowadays there has been a steady increase of colorectal carcinoma among young adults. To confirm this observation, we retrospectively analyzed the data for age, sex, site of primary tumour and histopathological type in our institution. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in the Department of Pathology. Histopathological reports were reviewed for all colorectal carcinoma from January 2016 to December 2020 for type and staging. Demographic data including age and sex were collected and studied. All non-malignant colorectal pathologies and carcinoma of anus were excluded. Results: The total of 215 patients with colorectal cancer were divided into two groups, group A (>40 years) and group B (≤ 40 years) with the majority of 142 patients falling in group A. Male:Female ratio in group A was 62:80 and in group B was 31:42, common site in both groups were colon-group A (53.5%) group B (50.6%). Histopathological grading revealed well differentiation to be most common (group A-49.2%, group B-58.9%) followed by moderately differentiated (group A-42.2%, group B-28.7%) and poorly differentiated (group A-8.4%, group B-12.3%). Most common T stage in both groups were T2 (group A-84.3% and group B-69.4%) and N0 (group A-67.1% and group B-72.2%) and most common histological type was Adenocarcinoma, NOS (group A-91.5% and group B-71.2%). Conclusions: Excellent screening modalities and treatment is available for colorectal cancer and remains underutilized. Awareness among health care providers and patients is the need of the hour.

• Full-Text
• PDF