Aim: few data have been published regarding the causes of
synchronous lesions in patients with colorectal cancer. The aim of
our study was to identify potential factors that might be implicated
in the development of multicentric lesions, since this knowledge
could be useful for tailored follow-up once initial synchronous lesions
have been removed.
Methods: we retrospectively reviewed 382 colorectal cancer
cases diagnosed by total colonoscopy and histological study of
surgical specimens. We divided our population into 2 groups,
based on whether they had synchronous lesions or otherwise.
Several data related to personal and family history, habits, symptoms,
and tumor characteristics were assessed. Univariate and
multivariate statistical analyses were performed.
Results: 208 (54.5%) patients had synchronous adenomas
and 28 (7.3%) had synchronous cancer. A multivariate analysis
showed that the following parameters were consistently related
to the presence of multicentric lesions –male gender: OR = 1.97;
CI = 1.13-3.45; p = 0.017; age ≥ 59 years: OR = 2.57;
CI = 1.54-4.29; p < 0.001; personal history of colonic adenomas:
OR = 3.04; CI = 1.04-8.85; p = 0.042; and obstructive tumors:
OR = 0.48; CI = 0.27-0.85; p = 0.012.
Conclusion: our results show that several parameters that are
easy to measure could be considered risk factors for the development
of multicentric lesions. These factors need to be confirmed
with follow-up studies analyzing their role in patients with and
without metachronic lesions once all synchronous lesions have
been removed