J Korean Soc Coloproctol.  2005 Apr;21(2):100-104.

Colorectal Cancer during Pregnancy or Postpartum: A Review of 7 Cases

• Park IJ
• Kim HC
• Yu CS
• Kim JC

Abstract

Colorectal cancer during pregnancy is a very rare condition with a reported incidence between 0.001% and 0.1%. Delayed diagnosis is common because of the similarity between the early signs and symptoms of colon cancer and the gastrointestinal symptoms related to pregnancy, which results in a poor prognosis. Only two cases, related with pregnancy were reported in Korea prior to 2004. We report seven cases of colorectal cancer during pregnancy or postpartum, as well as a literature review. We experienced 7 cases of colorectal cancer which were discovered during pregnancy or 2 weeks after delivery. The chief complaints were abdominal pain, discomfort, and hematochezia. The locations were the rectum in two cases, the right-side colon in two cases, the splenic flexure in two cases, and the sigmoid colon in one case. The stages of the disease were advanced in two cases: one with ovarian metastasis and the other with breast metastasis. There were four stage II patients who survived for 70, 34, 47, and 15 months, respectively. one patient had intra-mucosal cancer, which was identified incidentally during examination. The patient with ovarian metastasis died at 57 months postoperatively and the patient with breast metastasis died at 3 months.

Keyword

Colorectal neoplasm; Pregnancy

MeSH Terms

Abdominal Pain
Breast
Colon
Colon, Sigmoid
Colon, Transverse
Colonic Neoplasms
Colorectal Neoplasms*
Delayed Diagnosis
Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage
Humans
Incidence
Korea
Neoplasm Metastasis
Postpartum Period*
Pregnancy*
Prognosis
Rectum