[Colorectal carcinoma in young adults. Our experience]

Colorectal cancer usually appears in patients over 60 years-old. However, all the series communicate a small percentage of cases in young patients, ranging from 2 to 10% of the total. We have found important discrepancies between authors who have worked on the possible distinctive characteristics of colorectal cancer of the young over the last decade. This motivated us to examine more closely the clinical, follow-up and prognostic features of colorectal cancerous disease in the young as compared to that occurring in the general population. We analyzed retrospectively the clinical histories of our patients with special reference to the following parameters: sex, diagnostic delay (time from the appearance of the first symptom to diagnosis), index symptom, site, Dukes' grade, type of surgical treatment, complications, recurrence and survival. We found that 4.9% of our patients with colorectal cancer were as old as 40 years. The clinical presentation, tumoral site and Dukes grade were similar in the young adult and in the general population. In spite of the fact that there were no differences in these parameters, in younger patients the surgeon was more aggressive, more often performing a radical operation. Perhaps for this reason, this age group had a higher percentage of complications and recurrences. We found no differences in the 4-year survival or in the time survived after surgery.