Characteristics and survival rate of elderly patients with colorectal cancer detected by immunochemical occult blood screening

Background/Aims: A comparative study was carried out to clarify the clinico pathological features and survival rate of elderly patients with colorectal cancer diagnosed by immunochemical fecal occult blood screening. Methodology: The study subjects included 208 patients with colorectal cance r, who were divided into 2 groups based on their ages: 52 patients aged 75 years and over (older group) and 156 patients aged 50-74 years (younger gro up). The 2 groups were compared in terms of their individual factors, inclu ding site, size, Dukes' classification, histo-pathological type of their ca ncer lesions and 5-year survival rate. Results: There was a significant difference in prevalence of tumor sites be tween the older and younger groups (P<0.05). Particularly, the frequency of right colon cancers was higher in the older group (34.6%) than in the youn ger group (20.5%), but there were no differences found in any other factors such as size, Dukes' classification, and histopathological type. Survival rate was almost the same between the 2 groups. Conclusions: These results suggest that elderly patients are susceptible to right colon cancer but there is no difference in the clinicopathological c haracteristics and 5-year survival rate between older and younger patients with colorectal cancer detected by immunochemical fecal occult blood test. The older as well as younger people should be encouraged to attend the scre ening program for colorectal cancer by immunochemical fecal occult blood te st.