Open AccessHigh incidence of prolonged rectal bleeding and advanced stage cancer in early-onset colorectal cancer patients
Author(s) -
Gurprataap S. Sandhu,
Rebekah Anders,
Patrick J. Blatchford,
Amy Walde,
Alexis D. Leal,
Gentry King,
Stephen Leong,
S. Lindsey Davis,
W. Thomas Purcell,
Karyn A. Goodman,
Tracey E. Schefter,
Michelle L. Cowan,
Whitney Herter,
Cheryl Meguid,
Reed Weiss,
Megan Marsh,
Matthew Brown,
Jon D. Vogel,
Elisa H. Birnbaum,
Steven A. Ahrendt,
Ana Gleisner,
Richard D. Schulick,
Marco Del Chiaro,
Martin D. McCarter,
Swati Patel,
Wells A. Messersmith,
Christopher H. Lieu
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
colorectal cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1758-1958
pISSN - 1758-194X
DOI - 10.2217/crc-2020-0012
Subject(s) - medicine , colorectal cancer , stage (stratigraphy) , interquartile range , incidence (geometry) , referral , retrospective cohort study , cancer , rectum , surgery , paleontology , physics , family medicine , optics , biology
Background: We examined characteristics of early-onset colorectal cancer (CRC) patients to identified factors, which may lead to earlier diagnosis. Materials & methods: This is a retrospective study with inclusion criteria: CRC diagnosed between 2012 and 2018 and age at diagnosis <50 years. Results: A total of 209 patients were included (mean age 41.8 years). Of those patients 42.5% had rectal cancer and 37.8% were stage IV at initial diagnosis. Of patients with data available for rectal bleeding history (n = 173), 50.8% presented with rectal bleeding and median time from onset of bleeding to diagnosis was 180 days (interquartile range 60–365), with longer duration noted in advanced cancer. Conclusion: Prolonged rectal bleeding history was noted in a significant proportion of early-onset CRC patients, with longer duration of rectal bleeding noted in stage IV patients. Patients and primary care physicians should be made aware of this finding in order to facilitate timely referral for diagnostic workup.