OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this paper were: 1) to determine the relative frequency of colorectal cancer in the young, and 2) to compare the clinical features of young patients with colorectal cancer to those patients in the older age group.

METHODS: A total of 322 colorectal cancer patients (136 colon, 186 rectum) seen and treated by our section from 1995 to 1999 were reviewed.

RESULTS: In the five-year period, 32 colon cancer patients (24 percent) and 41 rectal cancer patients (22 percent) were less than 40 years old. The overall frequency of young patients with colorectal cancer was 23 percent. For colon cancer, there was a predominance of right-sided lesions in young patients (69 percent versus 31 percent in the older group). Both groups of patients had advanced disease (chi square, p=0.38). Aggressive histology of cancers was seen in 63 percent of the younger patients and 24 percent of the older patients (chi square, p=0.007). Most of the rectal cancers seen in both groups were distal third lesions (90 percent in young patients and 86 percent in older patients). Both groups of patients presented with advanced disease at the time of surgery (chi square p=0.71). Pathologic examination showed an aggressive tumor type in 30 percent of the young patients and 25 percent in the older group (chi square p=0.72).

CONCLUSION: The clinical features that we observed in young colorectal cancer patients were similar to those of earlier reports.