Colon cancer in seven siblings

In a case-control study of cancer of the colon it was found that 96 out of 332 (29%) cases had a positive family history of cancer of the colon (2 cases and more) as compared with 19 out of 473 (4%) controls. 3 colon cancer cases reported that 6 of their respective relatives were also affected with the same cancer. We were able to do a complete follow-up study of one family where 7 out of 12 sibling (P < 0.05) had confirmed pathological diagnoses of cancer of the colon. The mean age at diagnosis among these familial colon cancer cases was 64 years (60 years for females and 73 years for males) and all tumours were located in the caecum or right colon (a common characteristic of colon cancer in this family). There was no history of familial adenomatous polyposis in this family. It is unlikely that the significantly high proportion of familial colon cancer found could be due to chance. This suggests that both environmental and genetic factors play an important role in the aetiology of colon cancer.