Disease characteristics and treatment outcomes of young colorectal cancer patients.

Abstract

691 Background: The incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) in young patients (< 50 years) is increasing but little is known about disease characteristics and treatment outcomes in this patient population. Methods: CRC patients diagnosed at < 50 years of age (UF institutional registry 2000-2017) constituted the IRB approved study cohort. Statistical methods included descriptive statistics, uni-variable cox proportional hazard regression model, Pearson chi-square exact and Wilcoxon rank-sum test. Results: The median age at diagnosis was 45 years (range 17-50, n = 286) with 212 (74%) diagnosed between age 40-50. One third (35.7%) of patients had rectal primary and most common histology was adenocarcinoma (ACa, 84.6%) and 20% of those had poorly differentiated tumor. More than half of patients had an advanced primary (T3/T4, 65%) and 44% had lymph node positive disease. A trend towards increased delivery of perioperative therapy was seen in early staged disease. (See table) Patients who underwent curative resections had better hemoglobin (p = 0.005) and albumin levels (Alb, p < 0.001) and lower CEA level (p < 0.001). Factors associated poor survival were low alb levels ≤ 34 g/l, advanced primary tumor (T3/T4), nodal disease (N1/N2) and presence of diffuse metastasis. For stage 4 disease, the cancer-specific survival (CSS) at 1 year was 77.2%, 3-year CSS was 46.1% and 5-year CSS was 29%; survival was better (HR = 0.4; 95% CI 0.2-0.6, p < 0.001) among patients who underwent metastatectomy. Conclusions: Our data suggests that younger CRC patients were more likely to be managed in an aggressive manner with a higher proportion of early stage patients receiving perioperative therapy. A suggestion of an improved CSS was seen in advanced stage disease even with similar prognostic factors. Review of larger datasets are warranted. [Table: see text]