Clinico-morphological correlations between colorectal carcinomas according to location

Introduction Colorectal carcinoma is a malignant neoplasia originating from the colonic wall. It is the second most common carcinoma in men (after lung cancer and prostate carcinoma) and the third in women (after breast and uterine carcinoma). Its incidence has steadily increased in recent years, which determines the social importance of the disease. Objective The study aimed to analyze the clinical-morphological features of colorectal carcinoma (CRC) in patients with different tumor localization along the colonic course and to look for correlations. Materials and methods The retrospective analysis included 206 patients (5.4%) with CRC over three years (2018-2020), selected from 3975 patients who underwent diagnostic fibrocolonoscopy. Clinical, laboratory, imaging, and histological findings were tracked and statistically analyzed. Results We studied 118 males (57.3%) and 88 females (42.7%), with a mean age of 67±5.7 years. The most frequent location of CRC was in the left colon (p<0.01). Colon pain and the appearance of blood in stool were found in patients with CRC of the left colon (p<0.01), while changes in stool consistency and peristalsis were in the right colon. In the left colon, the proportion of cases with highly- and low-differentiated adenocarcinomas predominated over CRC with other locations (p<0.01). In CRC with the right location, moderately differentiated and highly differentiated histological variants had the highest proportion (p<0.01). Conclusion There are correlations between clinical laboratory, imaging, and histological findings and the location of CRC along the colonic course. Mandatory screening should be introduced to detect asymptomatic cases at an earlier stage.