Clinicopathologic comparison between proximal and distal colorectal cancers

Different anatomical structure and physiologic function of colon and rectum guided some researchers to examine probable molecular, clinical and pathologic differences of rectal and colonic cancers. Awareness about characteristics of colorectal tumors at different anatomical sites enables better cancer control strategies.This study aimed to compare the clinicopathologic features of cecal and rectal cancers.

In this cross-sectional study, Demographic, clinical and pathologic information of patients with newly diagnosed rectal and cecal cancer were statistically compared, using SPSS software.

98 patients with cancer of rectum and 53 patients with cancer of cecum were included, the mean age of patients with cecal cancer was significantly higher than rectal cancer (P= 0.012) and the odds of cecal cancer in patients older than 50 years old was two times more than the younger ones. The number of male patients was significantly higher than female patients in rectal cancer group comparing with cecal cancer group (P=0.016). 41.8% of patients with cecal cancer and 20.8% of patients with rectal cancer had smoking risk factor (P=0.012). Abdominal pain was more frequent in cecal cancer group (P=0.007) and the proportion of rectal bleeding was significantly higher in rectal cancer group (P=0.006). In terms of histopathologic findings, rectal tumors tend to be more differentiated than cecal cancers (P= 0.004).

Despite the differences of proximal and distal colorectal cancers, due to the lack of enough evidence in this area, it is not possible yet to conclude whether rectal and colon cancer are distinct diseases or not.