CANCER AWARENESS – Colorectal Cancer Facts

Approximately 150,000 men and women in the United States are diagnosed with colorectal cancer annually, leading to an annual estimated 51,000 deaths.¹ Colorectal cancers are the third-most common in the United States (excluding skin cancer), with about 8.1% of new cancer cases diagnosed, contributing to approximately 8.3% of cancer deaths yearly.¹ Worldwide, colorectal cancers are the fourth most frequently diagnosed cancer and the fifth leading cause of cancer death, with an annual estimated 1.1 million cases and 551,300 deaths.²

Colorectal cancer (CRC) mainly affects older adults, with new cases and deaths declining over the past 20 years.³ This rapid decline overall is attributed to the increased uptake of colonoscopy, which now is the predominant screening test. Since the turn of the century, colonoscopy screening among US adults aged 50 years and older has tripled.⁴ In spite of the overall decline, there is a rising incidence (2% increase per year) in adults younger than 50, and CRC deaths among people younger than age 55 have increased 1% per year from 2007 and 2016.^5,6 In addition to age, there are other risk factors that may influence the development of CRC:⁶

• Gender: Men have a slightly higher risk of developing CRC than women – Overall, the lifetime risk of developing colorectal cancer is: about 1 in 22 (4.49%) for men and 1 in 24 (4.15%) for women.
• Family history of CRC: A family history of CRC nearly doubles a person’s risk of developing the disease. The risk is further increased if multiple close relatives have also developed CRC or if diagnosis was at a younger age (under 40).
• Rare inherited conditions: A significantly increased risk of CRC is associated with certain uncommon inherited conditions, including:
  • Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP)
  • Attenuated familial adenomatous polyposis (AFAP)
  • Gardner syndrome, a variant of FAP
  • Lynch syndrome, also called hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC)
  • Juvenile polyposis syndrome (JPS)
  • Muir-Torre syndrome, a variant of Lynch Syndrome
  • MYH-associated polyposis (MAP)
  • Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (PJS)
  • Turcot syndrome, a variant of FAP and Lynch Syndrome
• Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD): Those with IBD, such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease, may develop chronic inflammation of the large intestine, increasing their risk of CRC.
• Ethnicity: In the United States, African Americans have the highest rates of sporadic, or non-hereditary, colorectal cancer.
• Physical inactivity and obesity: Inactive lifestyle, meaning no regular exercise and a lot of sitting, and obesity may lead to an increased risk of CRC.
• Nutrition: A diet high in red and processed meats has been linked to higher risk for developing CRC.
• Smoking: Smoking has been shown in recent studies to elevate the risk of death from CRC.

As with any cancer, detecting CRC at an early stage improves the prognosis. The 5-year survival rate for CRC is 64.5%, with early stage localized (non-metastasized) diagnosis increasing that 5-year survival rate to 90%.³ There have been many immunomarkers identified as potentially useful clinical predictors, but as yet there is not a clear clinical utility for the majority studied.⁷

As part of our promise of “Fighting Cancer, One Slide at a Time,” Biocare Medical is proud to offer key high-quality immunohistochemistry (IHC) antibodies that aid in accurate classification of colorectal tumors.

1. Siegel RL, Miller KD, Jemal A. CA Cancer J Clin. 2019 Jan;69(1):7-34.
2. Bray F, et al. CA Cancer J Clin. 2018 Nov;68(6):394-424.
3. SEER Cancer Stat Facts: Colorectal Cancer. National Cancer Institute. Bethesda, MD, https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/colorect.html
4. Siegel RL, Ward EM, Jemal A. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2012 Mar;21(3):411-6.
5. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/colon-rectal-cancer/about/key-statistics.html
6. https://www.cancer.net/cancer-types/colorectal-cancer
7. Bărbălan A, et al. Rom J Morphol Embryol. 2018;59(1):29-42.