# Mucinous adenocarcinoma of the colon and rectum

Source: https://onco.cc/cancers/colorectal-mucinous-adenocarcinoma/  
OnCo record `colorectal-mucinous-adenocarcinoma` (Cancer). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Mucinous adenocarcinoma is a form of bowel cancer, about one in ten cases, in which more than half the tumour is made of mucus produced by the cancer cells. It favours the right side of the colon, is often mismatch-repair deficient, tends to be found at a later stage and does somewhat worse than ordinary bowel cancer, but it is treated the same way.

## Summary

The WHO classification defines mucinous adenocarcinoma by extracellular mucin making up more than 50 percent of the tumour, and grades it by its mismatch repair status rather than by gland formation (Nagtegaal 2020). In the Munich registry of 28,056 patients, mucinous adenocarcinoma made up 9.7 percent of colorectal cancers and was located in the proximal colon in 57 percent of cases against 34 percent of ordinary adenocarcinoma, was diagnosed at more advanced stages and had reduced survival (J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 2016). In 9,494 SEER patients with mucinous against 107,735 with non-mucinous adenocarcinoma, mucinous tumours occurred in older patients and were larger and more often of moderate grade, and surgery improved survival (Annals of Translational Medicine 2020). The meta-analysis of 1,087,055 patients found mucinous carcinoma more often right-sided than adenocarcinoma and with reduced five-year overall survival (Discover Oncology 2021).

How it differs from its parent: site, stage at diagnosis, frequent mismatch repair deficiency and a weaker response to some chemotherapy in older series; management nonetheless follows the colorectal page by stage and molecular status, with mismatch repair status deciding immunotherapy.

How common: about 10 percent (Discover Oncology 2021; J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 2016).

Treatment: as the parent, by stage and mismatch repair status (surgery, FOLFOX or CAPOX, checkpoint inhibitors for MSI-high disease); the sources read are registry and pathology studies, not trials in the type.

## Fields

- Kind: Cancer
- Last checked: 2026-09-24
- Also known as: Mucinous colorectal cancer; Colloid carcinoma of the colon; Mucinous adenocarcinoma of the colon; Mucinous carcinoma of the colorectum
- Tags: subtype-page; wave4; colorectal
- Group: gastrointestinal
- Burden: About 10 percent of colorectal cancers: 110,179 of 1,087,055 patients (10.13 percent) in a meta-analysis of 30 studies (Discover Oncology 2021) and 2,724 of 28,056 (9.7 percent) in the Munich registry (J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 2016).
- Subtypes: Mucinous adenocarcinoma, mismatch-repair deficient (MSI-high; often right-sided); Mucinous adenocarcinoma, mismatch-repair proficient; Adenocarcinoma with a mucinous component under 50 percent (not classified as mucinous)
- Biomarkers: Extracellular mucin over 50 percent of the tumour; Mismatch repair and microsatellite instability (decides grade and immunotherapy); BRAF V600E and KRAS status; Primary tumour side and stage

## Sections of this record

The page is a hub with ten sections in reading order; large sections have their own page. The same plan as JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/cancers/colorectal-mucinous-adenocarcinoma/sections.json

- Overview (on the hub): The TL;DR, the family this cancer belongs to, the organ, who gets it and what the state of the art is. https://onco.cc/cancers/colorectal-mucinous-adenocarcinoma/#overview
- What it is (on the hub): Anatomy, the subtypes and how they differ, how it is staged, and where advanced disease spreads. https://onco.cc/cancers/colorectal-mucinous-adenocarcinoma/#what-it-is [3 subtypes]
- Finding it (on the hub): How it shows itself, how it is confirmed, what screening exists, and the biomarkers clinicians test for. https://onco.cc/cancers/colorectal-mucinous-adenocarcinoma/#finding-it [4 biomarkers]
- Treating it (on the hub): The standard of care by setting, the medicines, surgery and radiotherapy named in it, and the regimens behind them. https://onco.cc/cancers/colorectal-mucinous-adenocarcinoma/#treating-it [1 setting, 1 decision with options]
- Evidence (on the hub): Trials recruiting now, the landmark trials, the key papers and what they mean, the latest literature, and the milestones year by year. https://onco.cc/cancers/colorectal-mucinous-adenocarcinoma/#evidence
- The science (on the hub): The molecular landscape: the targets and how often each appears, the pathways, the mechanics stages and the preclinical models. https://onco.cc/cancers/colorectal-mucinous-adenocarcinoma/#science [1 target]
- Where you are (own page): Cases by country, the UK and NHS pathway and other country lenses, and the expert centres with trials on record. https://onco.cc/cancers/colorectal-mucinous-adenocarcinoma/where-you-are/
- Living with it (on the hub): The decisions you may face, the aids that walk through them, the warnings on record, the first sixty days and the questions to ask. https://onco.cc/cancers/colorectal-mucinous-adenocarcinoma/#living-with-it [8 questions, 4 red cards]
- What is coming (own page): Everything in development, the open problems and what is being done about them, the roadmaps, and what changed on this record. https://onco.cc/cancers/colorectal-mucinous-adenocarcinoma/coming/ [3 medicines]
- Data (own page): Every connected record, the notes, the JSON, Markdown and RDF twins, and where the record came from and when it was checked. https://onco.cc/cancers/colorectal-mucinous-adenocarcinoma/data/ [8 connected records]

## Standard of care

- All stages: Treated as the colorectal page by stage and mismatch repair status. ([Colorectal cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/colorectal/), [Colon cancer (adenocarcinoma of the colon)](https://onco.cc/cancers/colon-cancer/), [FOLFOX (5-FU, leucovorin, oxaliplatin)](https://onco.cc/drugs/folfox/), [Pembrolizumab](https://onco.cc/drugs/pembrolizumab/))

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mucinous_carcinoma
- Nagtegaal 2020, Histopathology: the 2019 WHO classification of tumours of the digestive system: https://doi.org/10.1111/his.13975
- J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 2016: mucinous and signet ring cell colorectal cancer in 28,056 Munich registry patients: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-016-2224-2
- Discover Oncology 2021: signet ring cell and mucinous carcinoma versus adenocarcinoma, meta-analysis of 1,087,055 patients: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12672-021-00398-6
- Annals of Translational Medicine 2020: colorectal mucinous adenocarcinoma in SEER, 9,494 against 107,735 patients: https://doi.org/10.21037/atm.2020.01.52

## Connected records

- cancers: [Appendiceal adenocarcinoma (mucinous and non-mucinous, including signet ring cell)](https://onco.cc/cancers/appendiceal-adenocarcinoma/), [Colloid (mucinous non-cystic) carcinoma of the pancreas](https://onco.cc/cancers/pancreatic-colloid-carcinoma/), [Colon cancer (adenocarcinoma of the colon)](https://onco.cc/cancers/colon-cancer/), [Colorectal cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/colorectal/), [Medullary carcinoma of the colon](https://onco.cc/cancers/colorectal-medullary-carcinoma/), [Mismatch-repair deficient (MSI-high) colorectal cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/msi-high-colorectal/), [Serrated adenocarcinoma of the colon and rectum](https://onco.cc/cancers/colorectal-serrated-adenocarcinoma/), [Signet ring cell carcinoma of the colon and rectum](https://onco.cc/cancers/colorectal-signet-ring-cell-carcinoma/)
- drugs: [CAPOX (capecitabine, oxaliplatin)](https://onco.cc/drugs/capox/), [FOLFOX (5-FU, leucovorin, oxaliplatin)](https://onco.cc/drugs/folfox/), [Pembrolizumab](https://onco.cc/drugs/pembrolizumab/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/colorectal-mucinous-adenocarcinoma.json