A study of colorectal adenocarcinoma

One hundred and seven patients with resected colorectal adenocarcinoma were studied between 1983 and 1987. These formed 3.3% of all cancer cases and 19.4% of gastrointestinal malignancies seen during the period. A majority of patients (68.7%) were between 41 and 60 years of age; 31.8% were below the age of 40 years. There was a male preponderance (62.6%). Left sided cancers were more common (65.4%). The predominant histologic patterns were well differentiated adenocarcinoma (72%) and mucinous carcinoma (20.6%). Mucinous carcinoma was more common on the left side. A majority of cases (95.3%) were in Duke's stages B and C. Only 2.8% of cases were confined to the mucosa.