Five-year follow-up retrospective review of colorectal cancer patients in Johor Bahru

Purpose Data on colorectal cancer in Malaysia, particularly from southern regions such as Johor Bahru is underreported. To address this gap, we conducted a retrospective review of colorectal cancer patients treated in Johor Bahru 5 years ago. Methods The study included patients with colorectal cancer in year 2017 or 2018. We included only 63 patients with complete data. Patient’s sociodemographic features and clinical characteristics including site of tumour, staging, symptoms at presentation, and management/types of surgery was recorded and analysed in this study. Results There were 43 male and 20 female patients. The median age were 63 years, IQR = 55 -71. Chinese patients were disproportionately higher (60.3%), followed by Malay (36.5%). The tumor site is more often found in sigmoid (27.0%) and mid-rectum (22.2%). Anterior resection (74.6%) is the most frequently performed surgery. The 5-year survival rate of colorectal cancer patients was 63.5%. The 5-year survival rate of patients with stage I, stage II, stage III and stage IV disease were 66%, 81.8%, 68.6% and 0% respectively. Conclusion The clinical features of colorectal cancer in Johor Bahru closely resemble those in other regions of Malaysia. The survival rates among colorectal cancer patients in Johor Bahru, particularly in stages 1 and 4, are unexpectedly lower. This discrepancy in oncologic outcomes could be attributed to a small sample size. Therefore, the establishment of a unified surgical registry for all colorectal surgeries across Malaysia is recommended.