ABSTRACT
Introduction:
Colorectal cancer, in Portugal, presents as the second most common cancer and of cancer death cause. CRC is a disease of the elderly; however, there has been an increase of incidence in younger patients and doubts have emerged about its behavior, characteristics and prognosis in this group.
Methods:
In this study, we have evaluated a sample of 512 patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer submitted to surgical treatment in the period between January 1st, 2005 and January 1st, 2010, through a comparative clinical, pathological and survival analysis of patients under and over 45 years old (Groups I and II respectively).
Results:
Group I patients accounted for 5.5% of the sample. There was a predominance of males and the most common site was the left colon in both age groups. In the younger group, the histological type presents with a predominance of tumors with a mucinous component and with signet ring cells (p = 0.001), however, there was no difference in terms of overall survival and disease-free survival.
Conclusion:
In this study, colorectal cancer at younger ages shows similar characteristics to those of older patients.
Keywords:
Colorectal cancer; Age; Clinicopathological features; Survival
