[Colorectal neoplasms in young patients]

The prognostic factors regarding colon-rectal cancers in the under-40s are examined. A personal series of 15 cases shows that the incidence of tumour recurrence is higher and the disease-free interval shorter than in patients not selected for age and that 5-year survival is much less. These results permit the hypothesis of greater aggressiveness in colorectal cancers in the young, something that justifies the severer prognosis by comparison with the elderly population.