Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Editorial
. 2017 Jul 28;23(28):5041-5044.
doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i28.5041.

Colorectal cancer in young adults: A difficult challenge

Fábio Guilherme Campos  1
Affiliations
Editorial

Colorectal cancer in young adults: A difficult challenge

Fábio Guilherme Campos. World J Gastroenterol. .

Abstract

Sporadic colorectal cancer (CRC) is traditionally diagnosed after the sixth decade of life, and current recommendations for surveillance include only patients older than 50 years of age. However, an increasing incidence of CRC in patients less than 40 years of age has been reported. This occurrence has been attributed to different molecular features and low suspicion of CRC in young symptomatic individuals. When confronting young-onset CRC with older patients, issues such as biological aggressiveness, stage at diagnosis and clinical outcomes seem to differ in many aspects. In the future, the identification of the molecular profile underlying the early development of sporadic CRC will help to plan tailored screening recommendations and improve management. Besides that, differential diagnosis with CRC linked with hereditary syndromes is necessary to provide adequate patient treatment and family screening. Until we find the answers to some of these doubts, doctors should raise suspicion when evaluating an young adult and be aware of this risk and consequences of a late diagnosis.

Keywords: Colorectal cancer; Hereditary; Prognosis; Young age.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.

References

    1. Brenner H, Altenhofen L, Hoffmeister M. Sex, age, and birth cohort effects in colorectal neoplasms: a cohort analysis. Ann Intern Med. 2010;152:697–703. - PubMed
    1. Siegel RL, Miller KD, Jemal A. Cancer statistics, 2015. CA Cancer J Clin. 2015;65:5–29. - PubMed
    1. Eliezer D, Hadley DW, Koehly LM. Exploring psychological responses to genetic testing for Lynch Syndrome within the family context. Psychooncology. 2014;23:1292–1299. - PMC - PubMed
    1. O’Connell JB, Maggard MA, Liu JH, Etzioni DA, Livingston EH, Ko CY. Do young colon cancer patients have worse outcomes? World J Surg. 2004;28:558–562. - PubMed
    1. Lupinacci RM, Campos FG, Araújo SE, Imperiale AR, Seid VE, Habr-Gama A, Kiss DR, Gama-Rodrigues J. Análise comparativa das características clínicas, anátomo-patológicas e sobrevida entre pacientes com câncer colo-retal abaixo e acima de 40 anos de idade. Rev. bras. Coloproct. 2003;23:155–162.

Publication types