RECTAL MALIGNANT TUMOR IN CHILDHOOD

Abstract

In adults malignant tumor of the rectum is common, neoplasms in this location comprising approximately 12 per cent of all malignant growths and 80 per cent of all intestinal cancers. The incidence of rectal cancer in youth has been computed at 4 per cent of all malignant growths, and only a small proportion of the tumors have been assigned to the lower part of the bowel. In an article on malignant tumors in persons under 26 years of age Fowler noted that 18.7 per cent of the growths occurred in the large bowel, and of these 12.5 per cent were located in the rectum or the rectosigmoid region. A perusal of several large series shows that rectal cancer is extremely infrequent in early life. It has been stated that the active tissues of youth, instead of resisting invasion of carcinoma, invite its spread, and that the young person who is