Colorectal Cancer, Patient’s profile and Clinical Presentation in Albania

Abstract

Introduction Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a multi-factorial disease with high malignancy, and the fourth leading cause of cancer death worldwide. This study was performed to assess the epidemiological, patients’ profile and clinic-pathological characteristics of CRC in Regional Hospital, Durres. Methods This is a retrospective study where being included all patients diagnosed with CRC at Surgery ward in Durres hospital from January 2016 to December 2020. A statistical software SPSS version 21.0 was used for data analyze. Results During five years of CRC cases investigation, a total of 136 patients were treated in the regional hospital of Durres city. Of these, 97 (71.3%) patients had cancer of the colon and others patients 39 (28.7%) had rectal cancer. Most of the patients (47%) resulted with left-side tumors and (24.3%) with right-sided tumors. Males with CRC resulted 62.5% and females 37.5% with ratio man versus female 1.66. The commonest symptoms were abdominal pain or discomfort 39.7%, diarrhea or constipation 27.9%, changing in bowel habits 16.9%, rectal bleeding and anemia 15.4%. About the stage of CRC, in stage I resulted 24.3% in stage II 42.6%, stage III 14% and stage IV 19.1%. CRC in descending colon and rectum were commonest in females (22.05%) while in males the ascending colon is the commonest (26%). Conclusion During this retrospective study, the cancer of colon cancer resulted more frequent versus or than rectum cancer. Males were the most predominant gender in this study and left side-tumors more frequently occurred on patients over 60 years old. We have found varied clinical presentation among our patients, but abdominal pain or discomfort and diarrhea or constipation were the commonest symptoms. Patients with CRC on the sate II has a predominance in number compared to patients diagnosed with other stage of tumors.