Clinicopathological Comparison of Colorectal Cancer in Young and Old Patients

Abstract

Background & Objectives: Colorectal cancer is the commonest malignancy in the gastrointestinal tract third and the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. The advanced stages and poor tumor grade of colorectal cancer are likely to be found in younger patients than in older one. The aim of our study was to study the various demographic features that are known to influence developing colorectal cancer and to compare clinicopathological features of colorectal cancer between young and old patients. Methods: This is a retrospective study, conducted over the period from 2015- 2020, where we reviewed medical files, histopathological reports and radiological findings of 200 newly diagnosed colorectal cancer cases that were admitted to Rizgari Hospital/ Clinical Oncology Department, Erbil, Kurdistan of Iraq. The patients aged below 40 years were classified as the “young group”, and those aged 60 years and more were classified as the “old group”. The clinicopathological features in both groups had been compared. Results: The young group and old group consisted of (60) 30% and (140) 70% of patients, respectively. The young group showed a higher percentage of positive family history of cancer in comparison to the old one, and BMI also was statistically significant. Regarding the histopathological grading and pathological staging: grade -II was the most common, (82%) in both groups, and stage III &IV were significantly higher in the young group (83.3%) in comparison to the old group (74.3%).