The Clinicopathological Characteristics And Treatment Results Of The Early Colorectal Cancer

Background/Aims: Recently, it has been more interested in the early colorectal cancer (ECC) with possibility of endoscopic treatment. We evaluated the clinicopathological characteristics and the treatment results of the ECC. Methods: 120 cases of ECC from 969 patients with colon cancer were analyzed. The cases of concomitant advanced colon cancer were excluded. Results: 12.1% of total colon cancer was ECC. 80 and 40 cases were mucosal (M) and submucosal (SM) cancer, respectively. The size of lesion and cancer tissue of SM cancer was significantly larger than that of M cancer (lesion size, 2.2 vs. 1.7 cm, p=0.03; cancer size, 1.7 vs. 0.7 cm, p < 0.001). The prevalence of flat type in SM cancer was higher than that of M cancer (30% vs. 15%, p=0.07). Moderately-differentiated type was more common in SM cancer than M cancer (63% vs. 3%, p < 0.001). 15 cases received the additional operation (M cancer; 2, SM cancer; 13). The metastasis of lymph nodes was verified in 2 cases of SM cancer. Conclusions: The ECC with flat type, more than 2 cm in size and moderately-differentiated type had the possibility of SM cancer. Therefore endoscopic treatment in patients with those characteristics should be considered with caution.