Colorectal Surgical Department (CRS)

Incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) in young Victorians

In a study aiming to assess whether there has been an increase in the incidence of CRC in young Victorians, we searched the Victorian Cancer Registry database for patients aged 18-50 years of age who were diagnosed with CRC between 2000 and 2010.
A small nonsignificant increase in the incidence of CRC was observed in the 18-50 year old cohort during the study period. Rectal cancer was more common in the 18-50 age group compared with CRC patients over 50 years of age (42% versus 34%, p<0.0001).
Interestingly, patients in the 18-50 age group were more likely to have node positive disease.

Clostridium colitis

We published a retrospective review of CDl seen at The Alfred between 2010 and 2012, which revealed a four-fold increase in infection during the study period that could not be attributed to increases in testing (Buxey et al., ANZ J Surg 2014).
Our paper also described a case series of CDIs including a presentation with a colonic pseud-obstruction, which resolved after CDI treatment. We also described a novel treatment of fulminant colitis using diverting loop ileostomy and colonic washout and subsequent antegrade colonic vancomycin enemas.