Colorectal cancer in patients 50 years and younger: The Beaumont Health System experience.

e14583 Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common and lethal disease. Age is a major risk factor for developing sporadic CRC. CRC is uncommon before 50 years of age, and it is often discovered at later stages. These factors may explain why there are limited studies in this age group. Although the incidence of CRC has been decreasing over the past three decades, the incidence in people younger than 50 years has been on the rise. The declining incidence of CRC in individuals older than 50 years has been attributed to early detection and intervention through screening studies. Methods: After obtaining IRB approval, the Beaumont Hospital’s oncologic database was used to identify patients 18 to 50 years of age with histologically confirmed adenocarcinoma of the colon and/or rectum between 2008 and 2010. Results: Charts of 159 patients were included for the final analysis. Their ages ranged from 21-50 years, with a median age of 46 years. Only 3.7% of all patients had preexisting colonic polyps or inflamma...