Introduction: The incidence of colorectal cancer in young adults is on an increasing trend. It is observed that this subgroup of patients has an aggressive disease and carries a poorer prognosis compared to its older counterpart. This study aimed to analyze the incidence, treatment outcome, and prognostic factors in adolescents and young adults with rectal cancer attending a tertiary cancer center in North India.
Materials and methods: We retrospectively analyzed 50 patients of histologically proven rectal cancer, aged up to 30 years, treated at our center between 2015 and 2019. The clinical, demographic, and pathological parameters were studied in all these patients. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to find out survival. Univariate analysis was performed to assess prognostic factors.
Results: The incidence was 26.4% at our center with a median age of 28 years. Bleeding per rectum was the commonest complaint. Most of them had signet ring cell histology (26%). The median overall survival was 16 months. Survival was significantly better in patients having bleeding per rectum as an initial complaint (P = 0.009), absence of lymphovascular invasion (LVI) (P = 0.005), and perineural invasion (PNI) (P = 0.002), who received complete planned treatment compared to patients who could not receive either of the modality (P < 0.001). Patients who did not receive radiotherapy (RT) had the worst outcomes compared to those who received RT in any form. RT dose of 50.4 Gy was found to be superior as compared to other schedules. There was no significant difference in survival with gender, tumor stage, grade, type of surgery, or chemotherapy regimen.
Conclusion: The majority of patients presented in an advanced stage. Therefore, bleeding per rectum should be properly and timely investigated in all these young patients. Early detection and complete treatment are paramount to improving the outcome.
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