EVALUATION OF CLINICAL AND LABORATORY CHARACTERISTICS OF COLON CANCERS

Background: Colon cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world as well as in Vietnam. The clinical symptoms are usually nonspecific and prominent late in colon cancer depending on the tumor location, tumor size and presence of metastasis. It has now become possible to early detection of colon cancer. The aims of this study were to investigate the clinical, laboratory characteristics and the differences between right side and left side of colon cancer. Methods: A prospective study consisted of 30 colon cancers, who had undergone laparoscopic colectomy for colon cancer at Gastrointestinal Surgery Department, Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital from October 2017 to January 2021. Results: Mean age of 30 patients was 58.8 ± 14.8 years. Mean age of left colon cancer patients was significantly higher than in right colon cancer (64.7 vs 52.1 years, p = 0.015) The majority of colorectal cancers occur in people aged 50 to 79. Male/female ratio was 2.0. The mean BMI was 21.3 ± 2.1, 10.0% of patients were underweight and 22.3% of patients were overweight or obese. The most common clinical symptoms were abdominal pain (86.7%) and bloody mucus in stool (43.4%). The mean hemoglobin was 117.4 ± 29.1 g/l. The mean hemoglobin of right colon cancer patients was lower than in the left side (109.7 vs 124.1 g/l). However, this difference was no statistically significant (p = 0.183). Elevated CEA levels was found in 38.1% patients. The concentration of CEA increased with the degree of invasion of the tumor (5.3 ng/ml in Tis-1 and 9.9 ng / ml in T3, 4). The most common site of the tumor was sigmoid colon (46.7%). The mean size of tumors on CT Scan was 49.0 mm. Conclusion: Colon cancer was more common in male than in female with the mean age of 58.8 years. The most common clinical symptom was abdominal pain. The mean hemoglobin of right colon cancer patients was lower than in the left side. The CEA level increased with the degree of invasion of the tumor Key words: Colon cancer, left-sided colon cancer, right-sided colon cancer, CEA, Hemoglobin.