Adenocarcinoma of the colon is an unusual disease in patients under 30 years of age, and generally presents as advanced disease because of a lack of awareness of its occurrence, especially in the pediatric age group. The authors report on 2 cases of colon cancer in children less than 17 years old, whose initial presentations were abdominal pain of unclear etiol-ogy and non-specific abdominal complaints. No other abnormal laboratory results were found except that 1 patient had anemia. Barium

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... ies revealed the typical colon lesions in both patients, and colonoscopic pathologic examination disclosed mucinous adenocarcino-ma. The first patient was rather unusual in that 2 separate tumors were found simultaneously in the large intestine. The therapeutic approach included surgery and adjuvant chemother-apy, but both patients ultimately died due to poor response and early recurrence. Survival obviously depends on the extent of the disease at diagnosis; the earlier the diagnosis is, the better the prognosis will be. Clinical characteristics, diagnosis, and treatment of colon cancer in pediatric patients are discussed. (Chang Gung Med J 2002;25:349-54)