Importance of patient age for prognosis in colorectal cancer

Although relatively rare, colorectal cancer in patients below 40 years of age is on the increase. Using data from the Danish national cohort, Frostberg et al explore pre-operative management, treatment, and overall survival of 484 patients < 40 years of age diagnosed with colorectal cancer and compare these with 14,647 elderly (66-75 years) patients. The authors report that surgical treatment did not differ markedly between the two age groups, but young patients received more oncological treatment and had a better stage-specific five-year overall survival than elderly patients. The study concludes that despite more advanced clinical stages of disease, young patients with colorectal had a better survival than elderly patients.