Variation in Occurrence, Management, and Outcome of Colorectal Cancer in the Netherlands, on the Eve of Mass Screening

The large bowel can be divided into the colon, the rectosigmoid, and the rectum. The colon starts where the small bowel ends and it is 1.5-1.8 metres long when stretched. The rectum forms the final 10-15 cm of the large bowel, opening to the outside at the anus. The rectosigmoid is the transitional zone between the colon and the rectum. Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most frequent cancer (14%) among males, after prostate (22%) and lung cancer (16%), and it is the second most common tumour (13%) among females, after breast cancer (31%) in the Netherlands. In 2007, 11,823 patients were dia... Mehr ...