Abstract

BACKGROUND
Although more than two third of colorectal cancers are localized on the left side, recent studies suggest a right ward shift in anatomical distribution with increase in proximal colon cancers. The aim of the present study was to determine the anatomical distribution of colorectal cancer in a referral center over a 15 year period.
METHOD
Records of patients who underwent colectomy in the Cancer Institute of Iran from 1994 to 2009 were retrieved. Data including anatomical localization, year of diagnosis, patient age and gender, tumor histology and differentiation, and disease stage were extracted. Tumors located from the cecum to the distal transverse colon were classified as right side and those occurring from the splenic flexure to the descending colon as left-sided. Cancer of rectum and recto-sigmoid junction were considered as rectal cancers.
RESULTS
A total of 442 patients including 220 (49/8%) men and 222 (50/2%) women with mean age 53 were included. Most patients were in stages II and III (47.1% and 33% respectively). There were 157 (35.5 %) colon cancers and 285 (64.5%) rectal cancers. 43.3% of the colon cancers were right sided and 56.7% were left sided. There was no statistically significant increase in right sided cancer during the period of the study. There were no significant differences in age at diagnosis, gender, grade and stage of tumor between the right and the left sided cancers.
CONCLUSION
No proximal shift over time was identified in our study.

Links

Publisher Full Text

Authors

Omranipour R, Doroudian R, Mahmoodzadeh H

Institution

Cancer Research Center, Cancer Institute of Iran, Tehran University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran. omranipour@sina.tums.ac.ir

Source

Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention : APJCP 13:1 2012 pg 279-82

MeSH

Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Colon, Ascending
Colon, Descending
Colon, Sigmoid
Colorectal Neoplasms
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Iran
Male
Middle Aged
Prognosis
Rectum
Retrospective Studies
Young Adult

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Language

eng

PubMed ID

22502685