ABSTRACT
Colorectal cancer is very common in Western countries, being the second most prevalent malignancy in men after lung cancer. In non-smoking males it is the major cause of cancer mortality. Globally, colorectal cancer is fourth in the league of cancers causing death;1 in 1996, there were 510 000 colorectal cancer deaths worldwide, which represented 7.2% of all cancer deaths. In the UK, there are around 36 000 new cases annually, of whom nearly 16 000 are destined to die of the disease. In many Western countries, colorectal cancer is even more common than this, and in many developing countries, the incidence, and hence the importance as a public health issue, is increasing.
