Colorectal cancer in patients less than 40 years of age in Denmark, 1943-1967.

A retrospective review of all the 951 patients less than 40 years of age with colorectal cancer in Denmark 1943-67 is described. The annual incidence in Denmark of colorectal cancer in this age group is 1.4/100,000. These patients do not differ from other patients with colorectal cancer with regard to sex ratio, tumor localization, extent of tumor growth, histologic type, frequency of intestinal obstruction and perforation. Of these patients 53 per cent were subjected to radical operation. The five-year crude survival rate was 32 per cent for all patients and 65 per cent in cases of radical operation. The operative mortality was 9 per cent. The extent of tumor growth according to Dukes' classification and the presence of intestinal obstruction and/or perforation were the only factors found to influence the prognosis. The survival rates correspond to rate given in the literature in respect of colorectal cancer, regardless of age. It is concluded that colorectal cancer in young patients differs in no respect from the disease in older patients.