Colon, rectum, and anus

✍ Scribed by Robert W. Beart Jr

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1990
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 492 KB
• Volume: 65
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-543X
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-0142(19900201)65:3+<684::aid-cncr2820651311>3.0.co;2-5

✦ Synopsis

Incidence

This is the second most common malignant tumor in the United States. This is in contrast to the low but increasing incidence in Japan and Finland where there is a high incidence of esophageal and stomach cancers. People from these countries who move to westernized cultures develop carcinoma at rates similar to the westernized cultures. Approximately 147,000 new cases of colon and rectal cancer were identified in the United States in 1988.'

Death Rate

In the United States there were approximately 6 1,000 deaths from colon or rectal cancer in 1988. This compares with 24,000 deaths for cancer of the esophagus, stomach, and small intestine and 24,000 for the pancreas. The death rate for colon and rectal cancer is second to that of lung in the United States.'

Sex

In the United States males and females are affected equally. There are some families that seem to demonstrate a genetic propensity to develop colon cancer among the female members of the family.