Clinical-Epidemiological Specificities of Colon Cancer Diagnosed with Synchronic Metastasis

Abstract

Introduction: Colon cancer is the most frequent digestive-tract neoplasm in the present century.

Objective: To identify some clinical, epidemiological and diagnostic factors in patients operated on for colon cancer and synchronic hepatic metastasis.

Methods: An observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out in a sample of 31 patients operated on with a definitive diagnosis of colon cancer and synchronic hepatic metastasis, in the general surgery service of Saturnino Provincial Teaching Hospital in Santiago de Cuba, during the period between 2010 and 2019.

Results: The average age was 63.2 years. There was a predominance of inflammatory intestinal disease as a personal pathological antecedent, as well as alcoholism as a risk factor. The predominant symptoms were abdominal pain and changes in intestinal habits, as well as a tumor palpable on physical abdominal examination. Abdominal ultrasound and lower barium enema were the most used diagnostic procedures. Tumors prevailed at the level of the left descending colon. All malignant tumors were adenocarcinomas, predominantly moderately differentiated ones.

Conclusions: Advanced ages of life, as well as smoking and alcoholism are characteristic epidemiological factors among the population of patients suffering from colon cancer with hepatic metastases. The clinical elements identified were those usually described in the medical literature, although the imaging studies used preoperatively were limited for the diagnosis of colon cancer with synchronic hepatic metastasis, a fact that required finding metastatic lesions during surgery.