1537 Background: The increasing incidence of cancer in young adults has been well documented in recent years. Lymphoma, melanoma, testicular cancer, female genital tract, thyroid, central nervous system (CNS), breast, leukemia and bone and soft tissue sarcomas make up 95% of total cancer in this age group. Malignancies in this population have a high cure rate, demonstrating need for awareness and care optimization. Studies on cancer in young people are scarce, especially in developing countries. This study aims to describe the malignancies in young adults among the population of two Brazilian University hospitals. Methods: We collected data regarding sex, age, histology and primary site of tumors from cancer patients diagnosed between 18 and 30 years of age, from January 2000 to January 2010. Records were derived from the central cancer registries of Hospital São Paulo (HSP) and Instituto de Oncologia Pediátrica, teaching hospitals of the Federal University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Results: There were 261 documented cases of cancer. There were 160 males (61%) and 101 females (39%). Among the young male population, the most common tumors were bone sarcomas (28.3%), testicular cancer (17.6%) and hematologic malignancies (16.3%). Distribution varied among young female cancer patients: bone sarcomas (23.5%), hematologic malignancies (17.6%) and CNS tumors (12.7%). When analyzed by pathology, male predominance was sarcomas (36.4%), germ cell tumors (24.5%) and gliomas (10.0%) and female was sarcomas (31.3%), gliomas (14, 7%) and non-Hodgkin lymphomas (7.8%). This distribution is markedly different from older patients, where tumors of epithelial origin are much more frequent. Survival curves will be presented, evidencing a high success rate in the treatment of cancer in young adults. Conclusions: The high prevalence of bone neoplasms and low incidence of melanoma and thyroid cancer found in this study are in disagreement with other series of cancer in young adults, collected mostly in developed countries. It may reflect ethnic and environmental differences between the different populations. Young adults with cancer have a unique distribution of non-epithelial tumors and need an optimized and individualized care in order to achieve high cure rates.