Intestinal Research (Apr 2014)

Clinicopathological Characteristics of Colon Cancer Diagnosed at Primary Health Care Institutions

  • Sang Hyun Park,
  • Chi Wook Song,
  • Yun Bae Kim,
  • Young Sun Kim,
  • Hwang Rae Chun,
  • Jung Hyun Lee,
  • Won Jong Seol,
  • Hyung Sun Yoon,
  • Myung Kwon Lee,
  • Jong Hyup Lee,
  • Choon Sang Bhang,
  • Jae Hyung Park,
  • Ji Young Park,
  • Byung Hun Do,
  • Young Dae Park,
  • Sang Jeong Yoon,
  • Chan Wook Park,
  • Su Mi Yoon,
  • Jong Hwan Choi,
  • Ki Chul Shin,
  • Dong Hoon Ko,
  • Young Jin Kim,
  • Dong Choon Seol

DOI
https://doi.org/10.5217/ir.2014.12.2.131
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 2
pp. 131 – 138

Abstract

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Background/AimsThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinicopathologic characteristics of colon cancers detected at the SOK Sokpeynhan Internal Medical Network, a nationwide system of primary health care institutions.MethodsWe analyzed 579 colon cancer patients diagnosed using colonoscopy at the SOK network from January 2011 through December 2012. Cancers from the rectum to the splenic flexure were classified as left colon cancer. Patients over 65 were classified as senior.ResultsThe mean age (±SD) of subjects was 60.9±10.5 years and 61.1% were men. More than one quarter (28.2%) of patients were asymptomatic. The prevalence of left colon cancer was higher (77.9%) than that for right colon cancer. The most frequent macroscopic and histologic types were depressed (58.9%) and moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma (52.2%), respectively. Asymptomatic subjects displayed protruding or well differentiated adenocarcinoma, while symptomatic patients were more likely to display depressed or moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma (P0.05).ConclusionsStudy results indicated an increase of colon cancer amongst younger demographics in recent years. The effectiveness of colonoscopy screening was also evident, as asymptomatic patients demonstrated frequent findings of well differentiated adenocarcinomas. Study results also suggested a need for closer examination of older patients, as right colon cancer tended to increase with age.

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