NBC News
Although it is very rare, appendix cancer is increasing in the United States, especially among the youngest, according to a new study.
An analysis of the National Cancer Institute found that, compared to previous generations, the appendix cancer rates have tripled between generation X and quadrupled among millennials, according to the report published Monday in the scientific journal Annals of Internal Medicine.
“There is a disproportionate incidence of appendix cancer among young people,” said the main author of the study, Andreana Holowatyj, attached professor of hematology and oncology at the Medical Center of the University of Vanderbilt and the Vanderbilt Ingram Oncological Center.
Holowatyj’s research is “the first to show that 1 in 3 cases of appendix cancer is diagnosed among adults under 50 years“Said Holowatyj.” In comparison, 1 in 8 colorectal cancers are diagnosed “between the same age group.
Even so, appendix cancer is extremely rare: the National Cancer Institute said it is diagnosed at a rate of 1 to 2 cases per million per year in the United States.
To check if cancer rates had changed over time, Holowatyj resorted to the surveillance, epidemiology and final results program, which includes data from representative cancer records nationwide that cover around 45.9% of the US population.
In total, there were 4,858 cases of appendix cancer between 1975 and 2019.
(Cancer cases increase in women while decrease in men, according to study)
When the large proportion of patients diagnosed between the ages of 18 and 49 is combined with the new discovery of an increase in generation X and millennials is “important that we find the causes that underlie these statistics to reverse the trend and reduce the load of the disease,” said Holowatyj.
The new study also confirmed that there is a tendency that more and more young patients from recent generations suffer from gastrointestinal cancers, said Dr. Andrea Cercek, oncologist and co -director of the Colorectal Cancers Center and GI of early onset of the MEMORIAL ONCOLOGICAL CENTER Sloan Kettering of New York.
Specifically, colorectal cancer rates in young adults have been increasing. The cause of the increase in these gastrointestinal cancers requires more research.
“It is likely that there are environmental causes, such as exposure to food, water and microplastics, or changes in lifestyle or diet,” said Cercek, which did not participate in the new research. “It really cannot be attributed to one thing or another. It is likely that it is multiple factors that cause this increase after 1945.”
The appendix is a small bag that hangs from the large intestine in the lower right of the abdomen. An obstruction there can cause infection and inflammation, which is called appendicitis, which requires urgency treatment.
Unlike other cancers of the gastrointestinal tract, Appendix are difficult to detect because they are not easily seen in the abdominal scanners and are not detected in the colonoscopies, explained Dr. Deborah Doroshow, professor at the Tisch Oncological Institute of the ICAHN Medicine of Mount Sinai of New York.
In fact, Holowatyj added, about 95% of appendix cancers are not detected until a person suffers from appendicitis and the organ is removed so that pathologists are examined. As a result, Cancers tend to be in a late phase With the worst long -term forecast, he said.
Doroshow, who did not participate in the new study, said it is important that patients and their doctors be more aware of subtle symptoms. Changes in the level of energy, a new persistent pain or an inexplicable weight loss in a young person should not be ignored, he added.
“If a person has the feeling that something is not doing well, it is always better to ask for a specialized opinion,” Doroshow said. “We have diagnosed cancer to young people whom other health professionals had not taken seriously for their age.”
Doroshow said people shouldn’t worry about each abdominal pain. Rather, the worrying is persistent pain.
