An Overview of Clinical and Pathological Characteristics and Survival Rate of Colorectal Cancer in Iran

Context: colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers and the leading cause of cancer death in iran. this study aimed to identify the clinical and pathological characteristics, as well as survival rate of colorectal cancer in iran.evidence acquisition: the articles published in pubmed without language and time restrictions were included in this review. only original clinical articles were included in the review and non-clinical studies, including cellular, molecular, genetics, and animal reports, were excluded. the case reports, letters, reviews, and clinical reports with less than 100 patients were excluded, as well. all the clinical data regarding the patients’ demographics, tumor characteristics, and survival rate were collected.results: a total of 178 studies were identified at the initial step of literature search. after applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 27 studies, including 38073 patients were eligible. the mean age of the patients was 57.2 years, and the male-female ratio was 1.38. colon, rectum, and rectosigmoid junction accounted for 58%, 28%, and 14% of all colorectal primary sites, respectively. moreover, the average proportion of the patients with stages 0-i, ii, iii, and iv was 9%, 39%, 36%, and 16%, respectively. besides, tumor grades 1, 2, and 3 were reported in 52%, 37%, and 11% of the patients, respectively. adenocarcinoma (96.8%) was the most frequent histological type. the mean and median survival rate was 80.1 and 55.2 months, respectively. additionally, the average 5-year overall survival rate was 52.5%.conclusions: in iran, colorectal cancer tends to manifest at locally advanced stage with poor prognosis. therefore, public health strategies, such as screening programs, should be planned for early detection of this aggressive neoplasm.