Adenocarcinoma of the colon and rectum in the adolescent

Between 1969 and 1982, seven adolescents (six girls and one boy) with rectal bleeding and other nonspecific intestinal symptoms were diagnosed with biopsy to have colonic or rectal carcinoma. All came from an impoverished urban environment, and two patients were members of a family with a cancer diathesis (Turcot's syndrome). Surgery provided the only successful curative or palliative treatment. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy were unsuccessful in preventing the progression of disease in far-advanced, nonresectable cases. Prompt attention to lower gastrointestinal bleeding and nonspecific abdominal symptoms in adolescents may result in the earlier diagnosis of colorectal malignancy and improved opportunity for definitive surgical cure.