Staging of colorectal cancer in the private service versus Brazilian National Public Health System: what has changed after five years?

introduction: cancer is a disease that affects a large population, being the colorectal cancer one of the most prevalent. the early diagnosis of these neoplasms represents a better life expectancy. the high cost of diagnostic tests and the low socioeconomic status are considered factors leading to delayed diagnosis. objectives: assess the difference between colorectal cancer staging in patients of private clinics and patients of the brazilian national health service (sus) and assess the changes in cancer staging in the past five years. methods: this retrospective study was conducted with 53 patients divided in two groups (sus and private clinic) diagnosed with colorectal cancer and treated in 2009. staging of patients diagnosed in 2009 was compared with data from patients diagnosed in 2004, already published in 2005. results: both groups were similar in gender and age. regarding the staging of patients, no statistical difference was observed between the two groups (p=0.147). when comparing the staging of patients diagnosed in 2009 with that of patients studied in 2004, patients diagnosed in 2009 presented early stages (ii and iii) in relation to patients analyzed in 2004 (iii and iv), p<0.001. conclusion: no significant difference was observed in cancer staging between sus and private clinic patients. the patients analyzed in 2009 were diagnosed with early stage tumors when compared to patients diagnosed in 2004.