Early onset Colorectal Cancer: A Narrative Review

Colorectal cancer remains a leading cause of cancer related deaths and there has been a rise in the incidence of early onset colon cancer or colon cancer diagnosed before the age of 50 years old. Early onset CRC (colorectal cancer) has several differences in clinical presentation as well as histopathology, genetics alteration and molecular profiling. Demographic variance also exists in both the developing and developed countries. Increasing obesity and lifestyle disorder in younger population may influence this trend. Some studies have observed that early onset CRC may have worse outcomes than older populations. This narrative review aims to highlight the pathogenesis of early onset CRC, as well as its clinical presentation, treatment, prognosis and how it differs from late-onset CRC.