In the late 2000s, Cathy Eng, MD, began noticing something strange: A growing number of patients in their 20s, 30s, and 40s with colorectal cancer (CRC), often at more advanced stages.
“CRC is typically viewed as a disease for older individuals, so when I first started seeing these young patients presenting with advanced disease, no one really believed me,” says Eng, who was then a professor of gastrointestinal medical oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.