[A clinicopathological study on colonic carcinomas arising from right side colon]

This paper discusses the clinicopathological characteristics of colonic carcinomas arising from right side colon. Out of 214 cases of resected colonic carcinomas during the past 13 years, 36 cases of a right side colon carcinoma (in the cecum, in the ascending colon, or in the hepatic flexure) were encountered. Several characteristics have been associated with this type of cancer. They are as follows: 1) in half of these cases an abdominal pain but no anal bleeding, as has been noted in carcinomas of the sigmoid or rectum; 2) in histological type, poorly differentiated adenocarcinomas or mucinous carcinomas in 30.5% of these 36 cases, and associated with a far distant nodal involvement (n3, n4) in advanced carcinomas; and 3) although there was no difference in the 5-year survival rate between a right side colon carcinoma or a colon carcinoma at another site, the prognosis for those given a curative resection for a right side colon carcinoma was poor--only 22% due to hepatic metastases, indicating that colonic carcinomas of the right side has a poor prognosis due to the subsequent risk of highly potential malignancies.